The Marshall Tucker Band and Beyond 'Beyond The Horizon' album

THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND will swing back into action with their first album of new material in five years with the May 11 release of BEYOND THE HORIZON on Ramblin' Records and Shout! Factory.

The album features 10 new songs written by the band plus two by legendary founding member, the late TOY CALDWELL. The album was produced by lead vocalist and co-founding member DOUG GRAY, assisted by guitarist/vocalist CHRIS HICKS. THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND--whose current lineup is rounded out with bassist/vocalist TONY HEATHERLY; slide guitarist/vocalist STUART SWANLUND; drummer B.B. BORDEN and DAVID MUSE on keyboards, sax, flute and vocals--will tour throughout 2004 in support of the new album.

In addition to BEYOND THE HORIZON, Ramblin' Records and Shout! Factory will simultaneously re-release two of the group's re-mastered classics: Carolina Dreams (1977) and Together Forever (1978). Like THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND's first five re-released discs, these albums will feature the original Capricorn Records artwork, special live bonus tracks and exclusive liner notes by Barry Alfonso.

According to GRAY, BEYOND THE HORIZON embodies what the band's been doing since he started the group: making music that keeps the fans on their feet. "My job every night is to prove what we started out to do," says GRAY. "We began as a bunch of guys who wrote some fun music together, and our dreams get fulfilled every time we hit the stage."

BEYOND THE HORIZON celebrates the fundamental sounds of THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND. The album moves from upbeat, positive tracks like "Give It All You Got" and "Into Your Eyes," to pensive, country-tinged numbers "Texas On My Mind" and "Angel (With A Honky Tonk Heart)." The disc also veers from the stripped-down Southern Blues of "The Rain" and the power balladry of "Midnight Promises," to four-on-the-floor rockers "King Of The Delta Blues" and "Set You Free." MUSE credits the diverse styles on the album to the band's "group effort" approach to making music: "Some good friends getting together, trying to be creative, and coming up with our best."

"The band definitely has a distinct sound," says HICKS, whose favorite track off the album is "King Of The Delta Blues." "Jimmy Hall, our good buddy from the band Wet Willie, sings with me, and STUART and I play dual slide guitar on that song." The guitarist describes the tune as "a swampy style blues song about Robert Johnson."

Looking forward to the 2004 tour, HEATHERLY says the band's live show is "like a big piece of cake for the true Tucker fans and I can't wait for them to come out and see it." He adds: "This is going to be a trip, not only 'Beyond The Horizon,' but back to what it was like in the original band. The magic is back onstage."

Since forming in Spartanburg, SC in 1973, the MARSHALL TUCKER BAND has released 20 studio albums and have had massive hit singles including "Can't You See," "Fire On The Mountain" and "Heard It In A Love Song," among others. In a Rolling Stone review of their 1973 debut, Lester Bangs said, "their debut album is a moving piece of work that bids to put them in the same league as the Allmans damn fast. It's tight, smoking music, with sharp, ringing lead guitar work and sure vocals that are grittily felt but never strained. Music from the Carolina soil, full of blues and gospel influences, but so full of ideas that they never have to fall back on such space-fillers as slow blues jams. Each cut is a real song-some, like 'Hillbilly Band,' sound from first hearing like AM hits." BEYOND THE HORIZON, their 21st album for the 21st century, continues that tradition.

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