Deja vu ...All of a sudden I’m back in the South of 1976. The ol’ Skydog was a Senior in high school. Back in those days, and I guess it still is today, everybody had their little cliques. Some were the “disco ducks”... you know, polyester pants and the whole bit. Listened to the mindless dance music that was beginning to take over; drum machines and synthesizers were replacing musical talent and feeling. Then there were the “Metal Heads”, the ones with the Led Zep shirts and the dark attitudes. Over in another corner were the “good ol’ boys”...we’d discovered a new type music (or so we thought) coming from of a bunch of bands from right around us. No English accents, no weird clothes or even weirder haircuts. Folks just like us. Jeans and cowboy hats and boots...and we could actually understand what they were saying ! It all just felt right...Southern pride was on the rise...Charlie Daniels said the “South’s Gonna Do It Again” and , by God, we believed him !!

  Spartanburg, and the whole state of South Carolina for that matter, had a treasure called the Marshall Tucker Band...everybody tried to figure out which one of them was Marshall Tucker, but we sure did dig the music ! Absolutely killer guitar lines and a singer who really had a southern accent. This was “our music.” Find a convenience store that wouldn’t card you, buy up a few six-packs, find a hay field way out in the country...and it was party time !

   When I put “Stompin’ Ground “ into the CD player...see, even us good ol’ boys have joined the modern age, it was ‘76 all over again. It’s hard to believe the tapes have sat somewhere all these years...ought to be a crime, in my humble opinion. Probably a Yankee conspiracy !

   All the great songs are here...”Can’t You See” brings back the sense of lost loved ones like Toy and Tommy. “Take The Highway” and “24 Hours At A Time”, just to name a couple, have that fire and drive that is so lacking in today’s music. And Doug Gray still makes your throat hurt when he hits the high notes on “The Thrill Is Gone”...damn, that musta’ hurt...probably scarred him for life !

   In summary, GET THIS CD...if you ever jammed on the radio to the MTB, ever was fortunate enough to see them live, or just don’t feel the fire when you listen to the latest media favorite...this is your salvation.

   Hey Charlie...the South just might do it after all !

 Web site: http://www.marshalltucker.com/

                                                             Joe (Skydog) Clem

                                                             Skydog Music

                                                             http://www.skydogmusic.com