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. _I Found 4 boo** * 1:30 A m , Ju*y 2\ a* t>u* sloe and %/mad m at UO boo* sicw« across tb* swwrt kJnntity A cUsm Lott July IT Small Wua stuMad doo Outuda Pui*t SaMy Bu*»ng {» MbSi vd®i Haartc*T*an cb4d CaR coaac* Susan 6T> * 306 ' '"I E ipreeslve Editing Writing. 4 Re*earch Service* lor all »lud*nl need* Prole*»ional and We—on able Can PeW at SM-522* iwtaruv -e*s T >an*cr*>w>nt 4 BooUr—prOg Service* avanebi* __ Cell 5*2-4—___ § // /• C K C l. 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