Lets not forget Tommy too. RIP

And George McCorkle R.I.P.

He sure penned some great songs and had that magic thumb...

I think you can make a valid argument that Toy was the best songwriter out of the bands from the south during that era. Much more prolific than Gregg & Dickey and Ronnie only wrote the lyrics. He also had much less support in his band than the others in terms of sharing songwriting duties, at least on the first 7 or 8 Tucker albums when he carried the load.

Be curious to hear the opinions of others.

Excellent point and I agree wholeheartedly Mallard. I don't think Toy is as appreciated for his songwriting as he should, not just for the quantity but for the quality of the quantity. He was an absolute master of the major pentatonic scale for melodic and improvisational purposes. His lyrics, heartfelt about simple truths, were relatively cliche free and always having a unique spin. His work easily stacks up against any of his contemporaries. I believe they were way ahead of their time. Toys music, the music of the Marshall Tucker, could be played on the Alt-country and Country charts today. Frankly I think it's better than anything on those charts. Toy seems like a complicated cat. From all accounts Tommy was the way more likable brother.

Nice video, thank you.

Charlesinator I think you're 100% right about how the original MTB would fare on the country charts today. They are actually closer to traditional country than most of what you hear on the radio.

I saw Toy interviewed once on Ralph Emory's (sp ) show. He made Gregg look like he was comfortable with the media. Tommy was very charismatic and in many ways the leader and driver of the band.

Excellent point and I agree wholeheartedly Mallard. I don't think Toy is as appreciated for his songwriting as he should, not just for the quantity but for the quality of the quantity. He was an absolute master of the major pentatonic scale for melodic and improvisational purposes. His lyrics, heartfelt about simple truths, were relatively cliche free and always having a unique spin. His work easily stacks up against any of his contemporaries. I believe they were way ahead of their time. Toys music, the music of the Marshall Tucker, could be played on the Alt-country and Country charts today. Frankly I think it's better than anything on those charts. Toy seems like a complicated cat. From all accounts Tommy was the way more likable brother.

Good post.

Toy was an exceptional guitar player and writer. I really like his writing style. He penned wonderful songs. "This Old Cowboy" is a great song that personifies his style...very cool song, and Toy had a style of his own with guitar licks and the way he embellished songs with his playing.

I remember seeing him interviewed along with Jimmy Hall on an old TV show years ago hosted by Bobby Bare. There's footage from the interviews from that show on youtube. Here's one of the cuts.

MartinD28 thanks for that clip. Toy looked and sounded great. What I liked about Toys songwriting and I believe he picked this up from Dickey is they both can write a relatively simple song, but always come up a unique riff, break, head, theme, whatever you want to call it that just immediately made the song a classic. Dickey and Toy are two of my biggest influences on songwriting (and guitar). And I always try to think about that and incorporate that in my tunes with varying degrees of success. That Bobby Bare had some great people on his show.

You can hear all of Toy's different styles of writing just by listening to their album "A New Life." From rock, to jazz, to swing, to country, it is all there. Still their best to my ears.

Toy wrote the entire first two albums, both are great records. I agree with Wayne, to me A New Life is their best and I think it's often forgotten about how good that album really is. Southern Woman is one of MTB's best tunes

First saw and heard of Toy when my friends and I were all huddled around the TV in anticipation of seeing the Bros. on "Don Kirshner". Marshal Tucker came on I was absolutely mesmerized by Toy's style, I had never seen or heard any player get that kind of tone, speed and finesse using just his thumb; wore out their first two records... I immediately tried to copy it, but was too far along with a pick to change. Probably saw MT w/TC in Concert about 5-6 times in the 70s, opening for the ABB 2-3 times (W/ the CDB on the same bill)...Opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd and caught them as the "Headliner" at the Hollywood Palladium as well. Always a great show!

Toy was the man!

This one is my fav.

Here"s a great song with help from Gregg Midnight Promises

Where We all Belong is always in the "most played" basket by my turntable. As far as we're concerned the R&R HOF is not legit until the MTB is enshrined!!!!