10 Southern Rock Albums Every Music Fan Should Own

In 1973, The Marshall Tucker Band released their eponymously titled debut album on Capricorn Records, under the leadership of guitarist and primary songwriter Toy Caldwell. The band, who named themselves after a piano tuner from their home state of South Carolina, secured their place as one of southern rock’s mainstays, with their custom blend of country, progressive rock and jazz.

Setting the scene for the entire album, opening track “Take the Highway” highlights the band’s collaborative skills, showcasing flautist Jerry Eubanks’ ear for melody, and Doug Gray’s solid, theatrical vocals. Keeping up the momentum, the group’s first single, and most well-known track “Can’t You See”, describes a woeful tale of lost love that, despite its sombre subject matter, brings to mind cross-country road trips and southern breezes, accentuated by Caldwell’s mournful vocals and soul-stirring guitar, and Eubanks’ ethereal flute solos.

In a dazzling display of musical mishmashery, The Marshall Tucker Band’s debut offers unexpected combinations, like the use of steel guitar and saxophone in country jazz hybrid, “Losing You”; credits (and pokes fun at) musical tradition by offering a slice of Appalachia in tongue-in-cheek “Hillbilly Band”, and rounds it all off with their take on psych pop, in “Ab’s Song”.