What to know about Spartanburg music icons, The Marshall Tucker Band

The Marshall Tucker Band is celebrating 50 years as a band with numerous scheduled live performances, including a free concert June 7 in downtown Spartanburg. 

50 years of MTB:Spartanburg classic rockers Marshall Tucker Band: 50 years on, they still 'Take the Highway'

Here are 10 things to know about the iconic classic rock group with Hub City roots: 

►The six founding members of the group were brothers Tommy and Toy Caldwell on bass and lead guitar, rhythm guitarist George McCorkle, drummer Paul T. Riddle, lead singer Doug Gray and Jerry Eubanks on flute and saxophone.

►Marshall Tucker Band's notable hits are: "Can't You See," "Take the Highway," "Fire on the Mountain," "This Ol' Cowboy," "Searchin' for a Rainbow" and "Heard It in a Love Song."  

►Since 1996, Gray has been the sole original member performing with the group. The current Marshall Tucker Band is: Gray, guitarists Rick Willis and Chris Hicks, drummer B.B. Borden, keyboardist-saxophonist-flutist Marcus James Henderson and bassist Ryan Ware.

►In the early 1970s, the group took its name from the blind piano tuner whose name was inscribed on the door key to the band’s rehearsal space. The band had secured its first gig and needed a name.  

►The band was signed to the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records label, which was also the home of the Allman Brothers Band. The Marshall Tucker Band released its eponymous debut album in 1973.

►Marshall Tucker Band shared a bill with The Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage at a 1977 show that drew nearly 150,000 spectators to a race track in Englishtown, N.J. 

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►Toy Caldwell, McCorkle and Riddle also appeared on the TV game show "Hollywood Squares."

►Tommy Caldwell was involved in a car crash and died in the hospital six days later, on April 28, 1980 at age 30. His death occurred just a month after the Caldwell’s younger brother, Tim, was also killed in a traffic accident. Toy Caldwell died from respiratory failure in 1993, McCorkle from cancer in 2007.  

Spartanburg show:Celebrating 50 years, Marshall Tucker Band to play free concert in downtown Spartanburg

►The band has cemented its ties to the country music community through appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the most recent in February.  

►Riddle said he's recently been in a Nashville recording studio working on a project that he believes will connect with longtime MTB fans.