started with Phil and Capricorn.
So you were off and running, recording your first album with Paul Hornsby producing down in Macon. As a teenager growing up in Spartanburg I was listening to WORD radio and a guy named Billy Mack was counting down the 100 best singles of the year. Right after he finished that day, I heard him say “Next up, we have some members of Spartanburg’s own Marshall Tucker Band in the studio, and we are going to debut their new album, song by song.” Needless to say, I was glued to the radio for the next hour. I became a die- hard fan that day. Well, thank you Michael B. Yeah, WORD was really good to us.
will certainly always remember him for being a great musician, band leader, and just a nice guy. I was working at a grocery store in Spartanburg, and Tommy would come in and talk to me all the time and I thought it was so cool that this guy from one of my favorite bands would just take time to stand and chat with me. But there's something that you call the “Tommy bond.” I’d like you to explain that to our readers. Well, there's a lot of us that have that shared experience. We all experienced Tommy's en- ergy and his friendship and his love of life. I have never known anyone like him. I always said that outside of my parents, he was the most influential person I've ever met in my life. I met him at sixteen years old we started working together, and he just had such a vi- sion. It was never “if,” but “when.” It was never “we're going to climb that mountain,” it was “we're going to run through the middle of it.” It was never said in an arrogant way, it was just a confidence he had. He was so re- spected by other great people like Jimmy and Jack Hall, Charlie Daniels and any of the peo- ple in his band. Charlie and I shared the Tommy bond. The Allman Brothers guys. Some people just have that gift, he had a cer- tain strength and energy about him and he was just a special person. So we all call it the “Tommy bond,” especially in the inner circle, from the bands to the road crews.
Paul on the road in the ‘70’s.
Paul, let me ask you about something now - this is something you have spo- ken about to me so many times. Let’s talk about your friend Tommy Caldwell for a minute. I'm sure everybody read- ing this knows by now that Tommy passed away back in 1980 after a auto- mobile accident in Spartanburg. We
And it’s just kind of been passed down through the years. I mean, there are so many great stories you've told me in the past, and George McCorkle told me sto- ries as did Doug Gray and Moon Mullins. But you were the first one to share stories with me and I’ll never ever forget that. Such fun and loving memories. Can you share one with the readers? I remember I was with him one time and our first royalty check had come in. I was right out
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