The Marshall Tucker Band

CLEARWATER — The Marshall Tucker Band and BlackHawk will perform Friday, April 23, 7:30 p.m., at Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater.

With The Marshall Tucker Band’s 50th anniversary approaching, the Southern rock group is getting the celebration started early by signing with UTA for exclusive worldwide representation in all areas including concert bookings, literary deals, film and television.

Music lovers—especially those in the South—know the Marshall Tucker Band for their definitive blend of rock, rhythm & blues, jazz, country and gospel. Lead singer Doug Gray and the band influenced major country acts like Alabama, Confederate Railroad and Travis Tritt and developed a 50-year friendship with NRA Life member Charlie Daniels. In fact, the Marshall Tucker Band was slated to tour with the Charlie Daniels Band in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic derailed those plans. Having earned the rank of an Army sergeant E-5 in Vietnam, Gray is quick to honor and recognize fellow veterans and understands the importance of the Second Amendment. Gray recently answered a few questions for NRA Country’s Vanessa Shahidi.

Marshall Tucker Band frontman Doug Gray was as close as brothers with Charlie Daniels over the decades, and he's opening up about his 50-year friendship with the man he calls "the broad shoulders of all of us" after his death at the age of 83.