Great stuff... thanks for taking the time to share Fretsman!

Fairly good show. Shorts sets & started late. Rain held off except for a few sprinkles. Doug Gray & MTB were horrible, he should just pack it in, a lot of stupid banter and no voice left.
Enjoyed the Skynyrd set from Artimus Pyle band. Got a long awaited autograph and short chat w/ Artimus about having front row tix for after the plane crash. His comment was "I guess we didn't make it". And what can I say about CDB....always a fun time, some Dylan tunes, CDB classics and a Birmingham Blues that I've waited years to hear again. I think Charlie never gets enough praise for this guitar playing, just excellent stuff. Remembering my first CDB show was 40 years ago.....boy, I'm sure gettin' old !!!

Marshall Tucker was the weak link, coming out with a sour version of This Ol' Cowboy. That's a tough cold start for Doug at this stage of his career. Chris Hicks is a great player and they went to him right after for his Dog Eat Dog World. They then went into Take The Highway. Heard It In A Love Song was squint wielding and ear twitching at times. Doug really gave a glimpse of his vocal past with Bob My Blues Away. The video above bears that out, but the video below will bear out your view as Doug turned Can't You See into a 13+min version that isn't lead guitar intensive.

I love the music and take what remnants of what it once was and cherish them. The flat moments I disregard, I choose the beauty.

"We will all one day long for what we've once been able to do in the past" Fretsman 7/1/15

Marshall Tucker was the weak link, coming out with a sour version of This Ol' Cowboy. That's a tough cold start for Doug at this stage of his career. Chris Hicks is a great player and they went to him right after for his Dog Eat Dog World. They then went into Take The Highway. Heard It In A Love Song was squint wielding and ear twitching at times. Doug really gave a glimpse of his vocal past with Bob My Blues Away. The video above bears that out, but the video below will bear out your view as Doug turned Can't You See into a 13+min version that isn't lead guitar intensive.

I love the music and take what remnants of what it once was and cherish them. The flat moments I disregard, I choose the beauty.

"We will all one day long for what we've once been able to do in the past" Fretsman 7/1/15

I've seen this current lineup recently. It's my opinion (& we all have them) that musically this is a good band. Doug has surrounded himself with very skilled musicians and vocalists. These guys can play. I think we have to separate the band and instrumentation from Doug's vocals at this stage. I feel badly for him at this stage of his career. His voice is close to shot. It has been a bunch of years now since he could command a stage with his vocal. In his day, he could run octaves & hit / hold notes like very few vocalists could. I'm glad I had the chance to see him along with the original band a bunch of times - excellent.

Sure miss the old days and these original bands....CDB w/ Tommy Crain & Taz...LS w/ Ed King & Allen Collins....Outlaws w/ Hughie & Billy Jones....ah yes, southern rock in its prime, those were great bands that could rip it long and hard.

You know how music runs in cycles? Does anyone think we will ever see a resurgence of Southern Rock bands like the ABB, Lynyrd Skynyrd, MTB, Outlaws etc. again or is the music business just a total train wreck and these types of bands could never make it again in the current market?

Now you've got the quasi-country/southern rock like Zac Brown Band.
True southern guitar lead rock is pretty much done and won't be making a come back in todays music world.
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You know how music runs in cycles? Does anyone think we will ever see a resurgence of Southern Rock bands like the ABB, Lynyrd Skynyrd, MTB, Outlaws etc. again or is the music business just a total train wreck and these types of bands could never make it again in the current market?

it already did from about 1988-1995. skynyrd, ABB, blackfoot and MTB all reunited. they all released albums and some were very successful. around that same time a few younger bands with a southern rock style come along like soul kitchen, black crowes, tattoo rodeo, pride and glory, cry of love, copperhead, sister whiskey and dillinger. then travis tritt popped up and hit huge but by 2000 it was all over again

There will never be an era like that again. The ABB, The Outlaws, The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, & Charlie Daniels. There was a magic there. The guitarists all had a legend waiting to be born. There are posers out there who are making some big bucks feeding the crowds, but for many reasons it will never happen.

1.) When all these guys were young the electric guitar riff was in it's infancy and they were there to be discovered and they did. They brought a new sound blending the music of their past and peaked it out.

2.) Culture. If only you could play an instrument predominantly with your thumbs? Between mobile devices and thousands of TV shows and other timekills, The generations of today lack motivation to fill time productively, They have too many things right at their fingertips.

3.) Ease and Flow. You had a less processed busy sound. In my ear it didn't all step on itself soundwise and a band like Skynyrd with 3 guitars and a piano could all shine through fills and stand out in their own moments rather than never stand out and never rest the whole song? The Florida Guitar Army could all be heard apart and together. The blues and soul of the ABB, maybe with everyones session work. The beauty was in it's natural flow. I can't describe what I want to. I'm shaking my hands in frustration over the keyboard?

4.) The Times. They were a lot simpler.

Our generation(s?) have had its turn ... and it lasted a very long time! The music made in the 60's and 70's has had an incredible shelf life. It seems to have been popular with several subsequent generations. But like it or not, each generation decides upon the style and genre of their own.

I was in a store this morning and some rather generic music was playing on the radio/sound system. Overall, there was no real appreciable virtuoso musical quality to it. The lyrics were plain - this wasn't poetry.

I'm sure there is some good stuff out there. There always is. But I'm not hearing a Clapton, a Dylan, a Hendrix ... a Duane out there.

In the early 60's there was AM radio. Short songs (3:00 was long) - short attention spans(?). The FM band was reserved for "underground" and "progressive" music. Currently it seems that everything is coming out of the same speaker. The state of music seems to have come back around to the short song.

I hate sounding like a whiney old grouch.

To the current thread - I've seen Charlie several times over the past 5 years. If you can get past his politics, he still very much brings it!

I hear what your saying about generic, It's seems the lyrics are predictable and lacks a hearty feel anywhere in the song?

I don't want to bash the Marshall Tucker Band. Great musicians and they have a place out there. I would see them again. I didn't want Doug's vocals in Bob Away My Blues to get lost in the shuffle, It's beautiful and moments like that will keep me interested. He may overextend his vocals to keep up with the loudness of the band and loses it vocally trying to attack the parts, maybe they should play a little more acoustic, keep him up in the mix, while he sings soft and in his comfort zone?

He sings great here.....

Bob My Blues Away

I don't know on what planet that could possibly be called great singing. That is NOTHING like what Doug could sing like when he could actually still sing.

I listened to it and it brought me back decades. The man is pushing 70. I've been listening to and loving that song for 40 years. Just him and lone guitar virtually acapella. I hear the age and the human weathering on his voice, but his moody fluxuations are great and for a moment I was living in the song.

It takes my imagination to Toy solo with a guitar doing Fly Eagle Fly, It ain't a bad sight to see.

I listened to it and it brought me back decades. The man is pushing 70. I've been listening to and loving that song for 40 years. Just him and lone guitar virtually acapella. I hear the age and the human weathering on his voice, but his moody fluxuations are great and for a moment I was living in the song.

It takes my imagination to Toy solo with a guitar doing Fly Eagle Fly, It ain't a bad sight to see.

I get what you're saying & agree. MTB wrote so many good songs (mostly written by Toy). I'll reiterate - am glad I had a chance to see them several times with the original band and through the years with various incarnations. One constant has been quality musicians.

I have a tendency to like to listen to and play the not so popular songs. Here's one of those MTB tunes my trio plays - sounds cool with a couple acoustic guitars and a piano. You can find gold in some of the more obscure songs.

[Edited on 7/2/2015 by MartinD28]

I saw Marshall Tucker many times in the 70s starting in 73. I love the obscure songs too. I close my eyes and listen to that Bob Away My Blues and it sure does not take me back 40 years, it just makes me cringe.

This one goes out to The Capt>

Think I'll keep my memories of Doug's soulful voice, and the amazing thumb, right here thank you....

You can't see this performed just once, let alone multiple times back then, without knowing it is no where even close to the same today.
Long live Toy & Tommy!

[Edited on 7/3/2015 by fanfrom-71]