Marshall Tucker Band singer Doug Gray shows no signs of stopping after 50-plus years

After more than 50 years with the Marshall Tucker Band, singer Doug Gray has learned how to tour successfully into his 70s.

Those tips include staying at nicer hotels (four stars or higher), grabbing rest whenever possible and keeping the shows mostly on weekends.

“We don’t work a whole lot of Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” Gray, 75, said with a laugh from his home in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The band’s Infinite Road Tour hits the Pittsburgh area, fittingly, on Friday at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale, with Western Pennsylvania’s Dinnerbell Road opening the concert.

The Marshall Tucker Band, which has been around since 1972, is best known for songs like “Can’t You See,” “Heard it in a Love Song” and “Fire on the Mountain,” melding elements of rock, country, jazz, gospel and R&B.

In the 1970s, the band racked up millions of album sales — with five gold and one platinum in the U.S. — and their music has appeared in more than 100 movies and TV shows in the past dozen years, according to Gray. Despite that success, he stressed that it’s important to stay relatable.

“It’s fresher to be honest about things when you’re talking to people,” Gray said. “I can sit here and make it up, ‘We got 19 buses, brother, and I tell you what, my gold chain touches my knees, you know what I’m saying?’ I could be that way. But we’re just regular ol’ people, man, sit at home, come home to families and go to Walmart.”

Gray is the lone remaining original member, joined now by B.B. Borden (drums), Marcus James Henderson (keyboard/saxophone/flute), Chris Hicks (guitar), Ryan Ware (bass) and Rick Willis (guitar). Primary songwriter/guitarist Toy Caldwell died of a heart attack in 1993 and his brother Tommy, who played bass, was killed in a car crash in 1980.

The Marshall Tucker Band is frequently mentioned among the top Southern rock bands, alongside contemporaries such as the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels. Accolades like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame don’t hold much value to Gray.

“No, not at all. We’re in the South Carolina Hall of Fame, and that’s good enough for me,” he said. “Being showcased in a place where a lot of super celebrities are and a lot of important people in my book, I just think that it’s not necessary.”

Related

• Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen among top concerts to see around Pittsburgh in September
• Photos: Country singer Luke Bryan lights it up at sold-out Star Lake show
• Pittsburgh area concert calendar

Playing the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, however, held much more emotional value.

“When I walked into the Grand Ole Opry the first time, it was like I really didn’t deserve to be there,” Gray said. “Toy and Tommy deserved to be there; they were the country lovers in the band. Man, I just about cried because, seriously, all I could think about is what they would feel walking into that place.”

After all this time on the road, Gray says he isn’t afraid to throw curveballs into the band’s set, like playing a ballad they haven’t done in 20 years.

“Just because I remember it don’t mean the rest of the band does, so I’ll just get out there and sing the song if somebody screams it out,” he said. “It’s a change-up of what a lot of bands can’t do. … People in bands are selfish — my band is not.”

With the longevity of the band, it’s only natural for Gray to have thought about retirement. Those thoughts crossed his mind, especially after the 2020 death of his close friend Charlie Daniels, who had played on several Marshall Tucker Band albums. But after talking it over with his girlfriend and two daughters, he decided to keep at it.

“What in the hell would I do?” he said with a laugh.