Marshall Tucker Band – Take The Highway

This wraps up my southern week…I hope you enjoyed it. Toy Caldwell was their guitar player and he could match up with any guitarist from other bands.

This song was on their self-titled debut album released in 1973. Even though Take the Highway might not be as famous as some of the band’s other hits, it’s still a total winner that deserves a spot on playlists.

There is no Marshall Tucker in The Marshall Tucker Band. The name refers to a blind piano tuner from Columbia, South Carolina. They saw the name on a door key where they used to rehearse and decided it would make a good name for their band.

The mix between the flute (Not a southern rock standard) at the beginning with Caldwell’s great guitar licks along with his powerful singing sets this song off.

This album contained the classic Can’t You See. Their 1973 album peaked at #29 on the Billboard 100 in 1973.

Many say that Toy Caldwell was the soul of that band. He was a Marine in the 60s and served in Vietnam. After getting injured he was able to go home and started to play music with his high school friends. Toy and his brother helped start Marshall Tucker.

Toy left Marshall Tucker in 1984. Contributing to his leaving was the fact that his brother… co-founder of the band and bass guitarist Tommy Caldwell, was killed at age 30 in an automobile accident on April 28, 1980. Toy’s other brother Tim Caldwell, on March 28, 1980, one month before Tommy’s death, was killed at age 25 in a collision in South Carolina.

Gregg Allman: When we wanted to get away from our old ladies, we’d head on down to Grant’s Lounge, which was a great place to hang out. We saw a lot of bands, including Marshall Tucker, or Mother Tucker, as we called them. Toy Caldwell was a good friend of mine…was Marshall Tucker—he made that band what it was.

Take The Highway

Take the highwayLord knows I’ve been gone too longLot of sad daysOne day you’ll turn around and I’ll be gone

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayHear me say

I’ll be back somedayBut darling, please don’t wait for me too longThere’s just one place I can’t stayMemories of your love still lingers on

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayHear me say

I’ll be back somedayBut darling, please don’t wait for me too longThere’s just one place I can’t stayMemories of your love still lingers on

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayMake me stay

Take the highwayTake the highwayTake the highwayTake the highway

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayHere me say

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

44 thoughts on “Marshall Tucker Band – Take The Highway”

  3. There has always been too much music to listen to it all. This was one of those bands that I heard on the radio but never sought out. I liked this until the last 15 seconds. Where did that synthesizer come from and why is it there?

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      3. Canned Heat were from LA. Their guitarist and singer, Al Wilson, died of overdose at age 27 in 1970, just a couple weeks before Jimi Hendrix died, which was a couple weeks before Janis Joplin died; all at age 27. All three had performed at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals. The Monterey Pop Festival appearances were big boosts in all three careers.

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      4. I knew about Blind Owl Wilson because he was such a great guitarist but not much about where they came from…
        I read where he was really into Redwood Trees and wanted to make sure they were taken care of.

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  4. not half bad at all! Brand new to me, I only know two songs off the top of my head by them. I wonder if anyone in the mid-’70s had the idea of getting the Allmans, Lynyrd Skynyrd and them together to do a big Southern Rock tour? It would have probably drawn very big crowds

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    1. I think The Allmans, LS, and Marshall Tucker did play some places all together. Egos probably Dave…The Allmans were so huge back then…they others would have only been openers….but the others could have.

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      1. This was another band we opened for back in the mid-80’s. Honestly I didn’t know anything about them before that gig and I missed half their set while we were loading up the van with our gear… It wasn’t until I “matured” a bit musically (I was only 19/20 at the time of the gig) that I grew to appreciate them. I wish I could go back in time and see all those bands we opened for that I didn’t really care about back then… we were arrogant young bucks opening for a slew of bands we considered from the “Where are they now?” files, and didn’t appreciate the opportunity we’d been given!

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      2. When you are young…you are supposed to be arrogant lol…been there done that. They had a lot of tragedy hit in the late seventies. I’m not sure Toy Caldwell was with them when you opened up for them. I would put his guitar playing with anyone.
        Did you guys ever make an album, EP, or singles?

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      3. We did record one album for an independent label by the name of “Ossum Possum Records”, which unfortunately went bankrupt before it was released. The recording was done, the photos were done…it was down to the liner notes and mastering when we got thr bad news. They kindly offered to sell us back the master reels (2″ tape, 24 track recording, state of the art at the time!) but the amount they wanted was about my annual income back then. We were young, poor and had no outside support, so the record never saw the light of day. I have an old cassette of the rough mix somewhere, but sadly that was our peak. Our bassist quit shortly thereafter and that was the beginning of The End for the band.

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      4. Oh that sucks man…glad you have something out of it anyway.
        We paid for time to record with a guy with an 8 track reel to reel…not that size though…that was the real thing.
        Now all you need is a computer and software and away you go. People don’t realize it was not easy back then…and I love the tape sound way more than the digital.

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    1. You got to see some really cool bands in their prime. You also saw The Allmans with Duane right?
      Can’t You See is my favorite by them.

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      1. I never saw the Allman Brothers with Duane as he died in 1971 and I was just becoming a Grateful Dead fan then. The Dead and the Allmans had a Mega concert in 1973 at RFK Stadium, Washington DC and that was the first time I saw them.

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    1. I agree…Toy Caldwell…he was the man…his guitar playing still blows me away. Very aggressive but he held back also…all at the same time. I agree…they get lost with people talking about The Allmans and LS.

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  8. I actually have a copy of this on a Capricorn Sampler LP. I bought it principally for the Grinderswitch track ‘Pickin’ the Blues‘ which John Peel used for many years as the theme to his BBC radio show.

    I was (still am) into my Southern Rock, so to get the Marshall Tucker Band and the wonderful Bonnie Bramlett all on the one album for a cheapo price, was a great day! 😉😀

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    2. Thats a band I need to check out…Grinderswitch….their bass player would fill in for the Allman’s bass player from time to time.
      Oh yea…love Bramlett.

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      1. Here it is on DISCOGS. Not worth much more than I paid for it (£1 – I still have the Capricorn price sticker on the inner sleeve … what a saddo!) Released, and I bought it, in 1976. 🙂

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  12. I’ve never closely followed this band and knew only a few of their hit songs, but I’d also assumed they were fronted by a Marshall Tucker. How terrible that Toy Caldwell lost two brothers within a month, and that he himself died only 13 years later.

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    1. I’ve never really followed them until the last couple of years…I only knew their 3 big hits…but they are not bad.
      Jeff next week you might like the ones I post…some….I’m covering the San Francisco artists of the 60s…some will be brand new to me.

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