Personnel: Barry "B.B. Queen" Borden (vocals, drums); Gabrielle Gray (vocals); Ronald Radford (electric guitar, steel guitar, mandolin); Buddy Strong, Stuart Swanlund, Michael Buffalo Smith (electric guitar); Clay Cook (steel guitar, background vocals); David Muse (flute, horns); Melvin Seals, Paul Hornsby (piano, organ); Steve Keeter (organ); David "Ace" Allen (drums); Keith Glenn (tambourine).

Audio Mixer: Buddy Strong.

Liner Note Authors: Ron Rainey; Michael Buffalo Smith.

Recording information: Southeastern Studios, Easley, SC.

There are so many ways that this record could have failed. For one, the sextet has only one original member, singer Doug Gray, and given that most of the reunion records of the other great southern rock bands have not held up over time (see Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers), the decks are certainly stacked against the MTB. Despite the odds, and being more than three decades into his tenure, Doug Gray pulls together a surprisingly adept version of the Marshall Tucker Band for THE NEXT ADVENTURE. While they rose to prominence in the '70s on lengthy live jams, Gray knows what put them over the top: easy-on-the-ears country rock with memorable choruses.

With this in mind, the new version of the band foregoes the improvising and delivers one gem after another of gentle, '70s-spirited country-rock tunage. "The Guitar Playing Man" revisits the western groove of "Heard It In A Love Song" and finds Gray in fine voice with a tale of honky-tonk infidelity; "Come Runnin' Like A Friend" is a worn ballad that finds both peace and heartbreak in aging; and "Crossroad" could have easily found a home on '70s A.M. radio. While there are no slamdunk hits, THE NEXT ADVENTURE simultaneously retains the charms of the band's heyday and renders the music in a lovingly weathered light. If cowboys have to grow old, they should do so this gracefully.

Genre:

• Country & Bluegrass

Music Categories:

• Rock & Pop: Country Rock