T ribute to the legendary songwriter, singer, lead guitarist and founding member of The Marshall Tucker Band!
toycaldwell.com
toycaldwell.com
toycaldwell.com

Toy Always Thought About His Friends

Nice web site! I just stumbled across it. MTB has got to be my favorite band of all time. Nobody has ever played guitar like Toy Caldwell. He had a distinct sound I've never heard anywhere else.To this day, when I here Mr. Thumb playing guitar on a song, it brings chill bumps!

My favorite memories of Toy and MTB were in about 1974. I have always lived in Atlanta and back in the mid 70's they had midnight concerts at the Fox Theatre. The concert started at midnight on a Friday night and lasted until the band got done jamming. It was always a southern rock band. MTB always rocked the house thanks to Toy and his unique guitar style. The coolest thing about those midnight concerts was that you never knew who was going to walk onto the stage before the night was over. All the 70's southern rock bands were all friends. The night I'll never forget was when about 2 or 3 songs into MTB concert, Greg Allman walked onto the stage and played a few songs with them. It was awesome.

I got the pleasure of meeting Toy many years later. He was playing at a bar in Atlanta called Backtracks(about 1987). He put on one hellava show. It sure was good to here him thumbing that guitar again.

After the show was over, he came out to the bar and sat down to have a drink. He sat down next to me and we started talking. He talked about all his buddies, Ronnie Van Zandt, Charlie Daniels, Greg AllMan. He talked about Ronnie raisin hell in bars; dancing on top the tables. The thing that stood out the most to me during our conversation was that Toy thought a lot of his friends. He seemed like a really great person.

Thank you Toy for the great music that you made. It's a shame that life's journey was so short for you.

Randy Bishop

Toy Caldwell's Mastery Of Southern Rock

One of my most memorable concerts was the first tour of the Marshall Tucker Band in promoting their debut album. My younger sister and I filed into the Bayfront Center Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida, about an hour early along with other concertgoers intent on getting their pick of seats. We were just kids, I hadn't had my license more than a year or two and this was only the first or second concert that we'd attended without mom and dad along.

The theater, much more intimate than the circular Bayfront main arena floor with its concrete floors and walls, had actually been designed with smaller audiences in mind. It had balconies, and plush seating on a carpeted floor that sloped down sharply to a stage behind a proscenium curtain. Instead of seating 20,000 people like the arena, the theater being a much smaller space could only seat about 3,000. The band's roadies were just getting the drums and amps placed on the stage for the show.

At the sides of the stage monstrous speaker cabinets stood facing the audience. Toy Caldwell's pedal steel guitar was being readied and adjusted for action. Then a roadie wheeled out a rack of five 100-watt Fender Dual Showman "heads" for Cadwell, plugged them into the speaker cabinets and flicked the switches in the back to turn them on. The five jeweled cherry pilot lights on the front of the heads winked ominously at our seats. "Oh, oh," I said to my sister. A budding guitarist myself, I knew what was coming if Toy Caldwell was going to be running his guitar through five Fenders at once. "I'll be right back," I said, jumped out of my seat and ran across the aisle into the restroom. I grabbed a hank of toilet paper off the roll, and hustled back to my seat. "Here," I said. "Stick some of this in your ears! This is going to be LOUD!" And it was. VERY loud! But loud in the best sort of way!

The cowboy-hatted Caldwell had a sunburst '58 Les Paul slung around his neck, and could he make it talk! The sweet, singing, Les Paul/Showman combination, and Caldwell's mastery of the southern/rock lead style made "air guitarists" out of plenty in the audience. The Tucker Band's performance that night is indelibly etched in my memory as a highpoint of musical enjoyment.

Dan Bornt

Smooth As Silk Like A '47 Buick

Look it; Toy was one of the best, underrated white boys ever. His simplicity and masterfull attack @the guitar has been underrated, at best. He could also write songs that you could sing to get... "the ladies!" I had the privilege and was lucky enough to meet him and tell him that, not only me and my picken friends dug him, but my 4 year old daughter got hooked on his "hooks."

The same applies to Toy as he described Duane: "Like a '47 Buick changing gears... smooth as silk! Life ain't fair. KXP109@AOL.COM







Jammin' With Toy At 3:00 AM

About 15 years ago, I saw MTB at the High Sierra Club at Stateline Nevada on Lake Tahoe. It was a great concert ... After the gig we walked over to Harrah's across the street and gambled a little ... won some doe and decided to see a late night show.

At one of the small lounges in Harrah's, the Elvin Bishop Band was doin' a late night gig, about 3 am, I think. About half way through the show ... Toy Caldwell strolled in with his guitar and asked Elvin if he didn't mind if he jammed with them!!!! The crowd, about 30 of us ... went wild !!! It was the most awsome musical experience I've ever had. Just a down to earth dude ... Jammin' with the guys. Nice Web Site! Louie Avila

Them Boys Bowed To The Master

First saw the Tucker boys on 8-26-76 at Concord Pavillion. Grinderswitch opened, then the Outlaws. Then Marshall Tucker. Nobody Ever sounded smoother or better, and at the end, Hughie Thomasson, Billy Jones, and Henry Paul of the Outlaws came out to jam with Marshall Tucker.

First Toy would do something and the others would follow. Harder and harder until those Outlaws boys just couldn't hang in there any longer! They all bowed to the master! It was something can never be forgotten. The Marshall Tucker Band is simply the BEST BAND EVER!!!! John Hunt

Toy's Steel Influenced A Generation

It was Toy Caldwell's sweet steel licks that got me hooked on pedal steel guitar. I had to have a steel once I heard "Fire on the Mountain". Been pickin on steel since that song. He sure influnced a generation of hybreed steel pickers! Rick Maibe


Giving Thanks For The Blessings

I appreciate your site and the tribute to Toy. I remember in the 70's, my dad brought home an album, The Marshall Tucker Band, "Searchin' for a Rainbow". I think my dad described the band and the sound as good as anyone could, He said, "Them boys make their own kind of music". The MTB came to Chattanooga not long after.

The music was good, but the one thing that stuck with me from that concert was that, after the applause for each and every song, Toy would say, " thankye, we appreciate it" or "we appreciate that". That is what it's all about, giving thanks, being thankful. Counting the blessings that God has given. Keith D

Toy Caldwell Page Appreciated

I would like to thank the people who put the tribute to Toy Caldwell together. I am probably one of Toy's biggest fans and Marshall Tucker's also. I still listen to the old stuff just about every day.

When Toy's band started touring around the country they played at my brother in law's place a couple of times and we got to know the guys in the band.I don't think that I have ever met a finer bunch of people in my life.I still stay in touch with Tony and Mark on a regular basis I kinda lost Pick's address. If you read this tell Dibby that Matt in Maine says HI!

Keep rocking and best of luck in the future hope to see you somewhere near Maine. Thanks again, Matt.

Ridin' In The Ozarks With MTB!

MTB is my favorite band/artist of all time. I would love to get a hold of audio/video of performances from the 70's. I was fortunate to see Toy Caldwell in Breese, Illinois 1992, year before he passed on up to jam with Tommy, Duane Allman, Steve Gaines, and Ronnie VZ, oh, and don't forget Lowell George!

MTB is one of a few artists I can play anytime, anyday, any mood, and I will always enjoy. I am very grateful to have seen and met Toy Caldwell. I am 35 years old and really got into the band during my college years of the mid-80's, and was too young to have seen the original band in concert, but grew up hearing them thanks to big brother Gary, whos favorite guitarist is Duane Allman.

There's nothing like ridin' in the Ozark hills, or sitting by a campfire(having a cold beer), and listening to "Virginia" or one of the many great Tucker boys songs. I would welcome e-mails from other fans. Kevin

Last Of The Singin' Cowboys

I've seen MTB many times during the '70s and '80s but the most memorable was seeing Toy and the band in 1979 at the Mississippi River Festival. It was the day after John Wayne died and they dedicated "Last of the Singing Cowboys" to his memory. Bill Linder

Take The Hiway With Ol' TC!

I was just driving home from the beach where my boyfriend lives and the highway was empty and I was blasting Toy Caldwell's 1992 solo C.D. that I'd just bought. Needless to say I was not obeying the 50mph speed limit. Anyway I got pulled over and I had to think fast. Do I fake that I'm crying or do I flirt?

After the cop called me Mario Andretti he heard "This Ol Cowboy " playing in my car, and it just so happens he was at The Volunteer Jam !!!!! This Ol' Cowboy is his favorite song (mine, too !). He said it was nice to pull over someone with good music and not rap! LOL.. After a 20 minute conversation at 1 a.m. on the side of the road I got off ticket free! Lisa Napoli