Country band finds audience growing in the ’90s
By Kaly Soto
OflOon tf mff-.wj
With llu* emergence in the past (our years of c ountrv
music as a popular and viable listening option. The Mar
shall Tucker Hand's audience is expanding to a new gen
eration — a generation unfortunately who thinks that
country music's roots begin with Randy Travis and Garth
Brooks
When The Marshall Tucker Hand began making records
21 years ago. they were considered a southern rock hand.
Their status as i ountrv muse forefathers has t>eeu a ns ent
phenomenon, and one that has not failed to surprise lead
singer Doug Gray.
"In the beginning we were a rock 'iC roll hand, coun
try music has come around to us," Gray said in a tele
phone interview from Ivos Angeles "We re still playing
the same songs, hut now they are considered country and
not ruck 'n' roll "
The Marshall Tucker Band will play at the Mill Camp
Annex in Springfield Thursday at 7 p m
The group (whose name is borrowed from a piano tuner
in their hometown of Spartanburg. S G ) is touring m sup
port of their 17th album. The album — titled Walk Out
side the Lines — is an attempt to return to their southern
rock (country) roots.
Country music superstar Garth Brooks, who wrote the
title ti:,ck, said that "having a single, esjtc* tally the title
Tha Marshall Tuckar Band will play In Sprlngflatd at tha
Mill Camp Annan Thursday at 7 p.m.
< ul performed by The Marshall Tucker Band, is a mile
stone in my career."
Walk (hitsuit* the fj/tes is the first album that The Mar
shall Tucker band has recorded "from start to finish in
Nashville."
"Eight of the 10 songs were written within the band,
and I think we really captured not only the 'Nashville
feel,' but also the heart of The Marshall Tucker Band."
Gray said
Even though Walk Outside the Lines is considered a
country album by today's standards, the influences of The
Marshall Tucker twnd are not at ail country. Gray said his
original influences were Billy Holiday. B.B. King and
Elvis.
Like these legends of rock 'n' roll. Gray dreamed of
becoming a professional musician no! only for personal
fume and glory, but because he "saw all the women" that
oamo with the profession
"1 remember when my mother took me to a concert put
on by a local band in 1955.” he said. "I saw’ all these men
standing up imitating Elvis, and 1 saw all the women
swooning Right then and there 1 knew I could imitate
Elvis just as well as they could."
On a more serious note. Gray believes he has been
blessed with the gift of music, and he wants very much
to share that gift with the public at largo, which is why
The Marshall Tucker Band maintains a rigorous tour
schedule that includes up to 300 shows a year.
For Gray, going on tour "is getting rest."
"1 have been given the gift of entertainment." he said.
"What I do is take people away from their everyday jobs
and lives."
Eugene CD a nice mix
Coming Aug. 2 to local
rtw oril stores is a new compi
lation compact disi with
tracks by Pacific Northwest
riM k (winds, including triu ks
from several Eugene hands.
Firldbum contains a total of
2:t songs from 11 different
bands.
The prodiuers of Fieldhum.
which is being released by
Eugene's Pro-Arts Productions
hen* in Eugene, got the title of
the CD from a practice com
monly used by agricultural
ists.
The burning of fields is
done by farmers to pn-jwm* the
soil for new crops It rids the
terrain of the debris from past
crops. "In its versatility.” say
producers Tony Proveaux and
Ron Kleim, "this compilation
represents a new crop in the
Northwest Independent music
scene."
To continue with this
metaphor, a non-farmer like
myself knows a variety of
basil crops can ix* cultivated
for harvest On a single farm,
one con plant wheat, corn,
pens or tomatoes, or some
combination of these
On this til), many styles of
musit are reproduced. They
range from alternative and
1960s pop (e.g. surf music), to
punk and rockabilly — the
hy brid you get when you cross
rock and country and western
The ground broken here is
not really new, with the pos
sible exception of the music
contributed by Two Minutes
Hate. The bands follow the
conventions of the musical
sty les they have specialized
in.
For instance, one can hear
an authentic-sounding organ
on several of the tracks that
are done in the tradition of
19f»0s-era garage hand. What
is new are the people playing
tiie musii and the bands they
am in. They am keeping these
styles alive and making them
fresh.
Store grills Garth over CD flap
By Kaly Soto
Oregon /W> f merak}
Well-done Brook* burger, heavy on the sauce,
was the order of the day at Fai e the Musu last
Thursday ns the Musk Millennium brought its "Bar
B-Q Garth Brooks” tour to Eugene
In spite of the rain, Bob la*'. Face the Music own
er. Terry Currier of Music Millennium and a crowd
of about 30 people lined the sidewalk in front of
the store and grilled Face the Music's entire stock
of Garth Brooks cassette tapes and compact discs
Why on earth would anyone want to take such
deplorable action against poor old (»arth?
In recent months Brooks has come out in support
of a controversial policy adopted by four (WFA.
Sony. UNI and CEMA) of the si* largest record dis
tributors This polit v states simply that any record
store that chooses to stock used (ills along with
their new CDs will not be given any advertising
support.
As a store that carries used CDs. Face the Music
is directly affei ted by this policy. Lee said the pol
icy that went into effect in April of this year will
i ost his store $15,000 in revenue in the coming year
and expressed concern for his < olleagues who own
larger stores and may find themselves out of more
money.
I.eu said he had experienced a myriad of reac
tions from his customers concerning the policy.
"Their reactions range from mild irritation to out
and-out rage." he said
These same reactions were echoed throughout
the crowd. Chandra Foote was outraged by the jhiI
icy because she contends that the sale of used (IDs
lioosts the sale of new CDs by providing the artist
with more exposure that he or she would get if
stores only < arried new CDs
"Garth Brooks is shooting himself in the foot
by supporting tins policy,” she said. “Used CDs
boost new CDs. and the artist gets more exposure
in the process."
Currier, who has taken the "Bar-B-Q Garth
Brooks” tour on the road, agreed with Foote and
said he w as frightened by the amount of power that
the record distributors seemed to have in this case
He sees the whole policy as not only bad business,
hut an affront to the idea of freedom of speech and
expression promised by the First Amendment.
"If it can happen here it tan happen anywhere,”
he said. "What would Powell's Book Store look like
if the publishing industry decided to institute a
similar policy?"
Currier said there was absolutely no question
of the legality of selling used CDs.
"Once vou buy it you own it; that's the way free
enterprise works," he said "The question of legal
ity should lie put to the policy. It's unfair and ille
gal "
Wherehouse Entertainment is taking the record
distributors to court to challenge the legality of the
policy. The 1-use is being argued under the pretense
illegal according to antitrust laws
According to a Los Angeles Times article, Where
house Entertainment, which is a 340-store record
retailer, charges that the record distributors are
"unreasonably" restraining trade "by withholding
advertising and pnimotionai allowances from retail
ers who traffic in used CDs "
Opponents of the policy argue that when the
record distributors believed that only small record
stores were dealing in used CDs. there was not a
problem But it was when the larger stores such
as Music Millennium and Wherehouse began to
buy and sell used CDs that they got concerned.
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