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“There are chords that chime, dance atop the beat, mutate in midair or huff like a harmonica. There are fast-picked overtones that arrive like a tuned hailstorm and gutsy nuances of distortion and feedback. The effects can be startling, but they’re never gratuitous. They are the sounds of a musician who has deeply investigated his instrument without leaving his roots.” —The New York Times

Sonny Landreth is one of the worlds pre-eminent slide guitar players. His latest Sugar Hill release, Grant Street Live showcases not only his well-known guitar chops, but also his soulful Louisiana-influenced vocals and charismatic live show. His last studio record with Sugar Hill, The Road We’re On earned him a Grammy nomination in the Contemporary Blues category.

Bernard Allison totes the same smokin’ six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison assaulted the blues with. And he is blessed with his father’s soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues. Born in Chicago on November 26th, 1965, the youngest of nine children Bernard was first introduced to the roots of black music and the art of the electric guitar by his father, the late great Luther Allison

Amid all the daily pop culture pressures to be the next American Idol why does Bernard stay rooted in the blues? “The blues is my roots. Regardless of how far outside of the blues I reach for tones, I can’t ever leave the blues. Whenever I play, all those guitar parts are Luther Allison coming through me. My dad was the same way, he wasn’t all blues. He loved Otis Redding or Chuck Berry. I’m just showing where my influences come from. And respecting the people who got me to this point.

30 Years And Counting…

From their first LP in 1973, to their powerful stage presence today, the Marshall Tucker Band has played countless concert venues around the world. With the success of the Volunteer Jam Tour, and 1999 release of Gospel, the good ol’ boys from Spartanburg, South Carolina remain as a powerful force in the world of music.

David Muse has rejoined the Marshall Tucker Band after a three year absence. As a founding member of Firefall, David took sometime away from MTB to reunite with his bandmates. David originally joined MTB in 1996. We are truly grateful to have such a tremendous talent return on flute, sax and keys.

Doug Gray, lead singer, is quick to credit the band’s current dynamic members with carrying on the everlasting Marshall Tucker Band sound. In 1989, slide guitarist Stuart Swanlund joined the lineup of talented musicians. They also added the highly respected B.B. Borden, who is a former member of both Mother’s Finest and The Outlaws, on drums in the early 90’s.

“The buying public never really cared whether we were country or rock and roll” says founding member Doug Gray. “They called us a Southern rock band, but we have always played everything from country to blues and all things in-between. We’re still playing all of the classic songs, but we are moving ahead into other styles as well. We’re also playing for a younger audience than we have in the past, perhaps to the kids of the fans we played in front of in the 70’s and 80’s.”