Toy Caldwell

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 23 Feb 2009 8:49 am

My buddy,Toy(founding member,guitarist and pedal steel) passed away the 25th of this month in 1993.RIDE IN PEACE ,MY FRIEND!

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 23 Feb 2009 7:27 pm

As time goes by, I find myself liking Toy's steel playing on the Marshall Tucker cuts.

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 24 Feb 2009 4:51 am

Toy never claimed to be a steel player,but he totally loved the instrument.On numerous occasions,him on guitar and me on steel.... I'd say"What's that chord?"His reply would uaually be"Don't know but it sounds good don't it?"Another well used Toy saying"Ain't but 12 notes how hard can it be?"Some folks just have it!

Tay Joslin · Post by **Tay Joslin** » 24 Feb 2009 5:54 am

I never met Toy (he passed away when
I was 13). Regardless, my folks made
sure that I knew who he and the Marshall
Tucker Band were.

I remember hearing Toy playing steel
on "Fire On The Mountain" at the age
of 8 and trying to figure out what
kind of guitar sounded that sweet.

By the way, who taught Toy how to play
the steel? Thanks for the post!

-Tay

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 24 Feb 2009 6:00 am

For the most part Toy taught himself,he was just one of those folks that are gifted...pretty much anything with strings ha could figure it out.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 24 Feb 2009 6:20 am

He wasn't always on pitch, but it fit the songs that they wrote.

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 24 Feb 2009 7:05 am

Toy wrote 99% of the MTB songs so another Toy quote:"I wrote em and I can play em any damn way I want to!"

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 24 Feb 2009 8:51 am

Hey Bari, did Toy ever talk about his thumb style of lead guitar playing? Man, he was fast.
I love all those songs and have played a ton of them on both guitar and steel over the years.
I remember the days that both Tommy and Toy passed. In high school I had a band that played a alot of MTB, CDB, and ABB, and I continue to play those songs to this day.
Pete B.

"I'm goin' down, to the river, got my cane pole, in my hand..."

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 24 Feb 2009 7:15 pm

He never said much about it other than a pick got in his way and one more thing to keep up with.He played with his index finger some too,,,,,and used to have trapeze tailpieces installed on all his 335 style guitars and used his pinky between the bridge and tailpiece for a vibrato thing,...but did use just a thumbpick on steel.

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 24 Feb 2009 7:31 pm

Tommy Young · Post by **Tommy Young** » 25 Feb 2009 8:54 am

He sure was one of those gifted individuals, a brilliant writer and great musician as well he did it his way as memory serves me,, loved those Marshall Tucker Band songs,,,, cut my teeth on them..still love'um and play'um

Don Sulesky · Post by **Don Sulesky** » 26 Feb 2009 6:22 am

I loved his guitar playing with no picks.
One of my most loved bands was the original Marshal Tucker Band.
May Toy rest in Peace.
Don

David Rupert · Post by **David Rupert** » 26 Mar 2009 3:43 am

I saw Toy play, with MTB...about a year before he passed away. In Raleigh, NC. He didn't play any steel that night.

But, it was an excellent show...& everyone, was sounding Great!

I liked his playing. Songs like, "Fire on the Mountain," etc. I always smile, when I hear that song...& Toy's Steel playing on it. I always, turn up the volume...for that song - as well, as the other great Marshall Tucker Band songs.

Rest in Peace, Toy...& Tommy.

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 26 Mar 2009 5:16 am

Back around 1980 or 81 I was playing in NYC at a club called City Limits and Toy came in one night. He had been partying pretty good, and decided he wanted to jam. One of the guitar players gave him a Tele to play, which looked weird, as he was pretty much a Les Paul guy. Unfortunately, the bass player was no jammer, and if he didn't know the tune, or it wasn't stock country changes, he couldn't follow if you gave him a GPS. Since Toy didn't sing he just wanted to lead us in an instrumental jam. Being fairly whacked out, he proceeded in leading us through a variety of keys and time changes with no direction. What resulted was 20 minutes of cosmic music that rivaled the Grateful Dead at their most spacey.

He came up at the end of the night as I was packing up to look at my guitar, a black Emmons p/p. He told me he had the same guitar at home, then proceed to take a long pull at a bottle of Heineken, which somehow missed his mouth and ended up all over my steel.

What impressed me most was the way he was dressed: He was wearing a red Izod (alligator) sweater over a white shirt, cream colored dress pants,a beautiful pair of tan lizard cowboy boots and a black Stetson. Man, he looked sharp! I have some pictures somewhere, I'll see if I can did them out.
He was actually a very sweet guy, no attitude at all.
All in all, one of my more memorable nights!

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 30 Mar 2009 5:59 pm

Toy and I met backstage in Birmingham when I was just a kid. We played guitars together in his dressing room for about an hour before a show one night, while Firefall was onstage. That night I wound up in his hotel room with my Travis Bean, and his Les Paul...I couldnt figure out how a guy could play like that with ONLY his thumb...no pick. I walked out of the hotel that night having made a new friend. 2 years later, without a backstage pass, i was standing above the artist entrance at Boutwell Auditorium trying to catch him while the opener was on. He appeared at the doorway, and I yelled at him...He called me by name, and walked to the stage entrance to greet me...I was 17. We spent another night trading licks and drinking beer..Toy was a good man, and I considered him a friend of mine...he left us all too soon...

Brian Straub · Post by **Brian Straub** » 21 Apr 2009 7:57 am

I met Toy several times in the late 80's, early 90's..His solo band was quite good and played in the Northeast several times...Had the chance to see him in small venues..including Downtown Norwich Connecticut in the middle of the street playing on a flat bed trailer truck in front of maybe 50 people. In a few very small bars that fit no more than 30 people...He played some slow old Tucker ballads (try one more time, fly eagle fly) which I remember dancing too....Met him at the Windjammer at misquamicut beach, RI..talked with him for quite a while. We talked like we knew each other for 10 years...very easy going and could tear it up on the les paul and 335... He never played steel in his solo band only with Tucker I believe. Great player, writer and moreover person!!

Michael Winter · Post by **Michael Winter** » 17 Nov 2009 6:34 pm

Thought I'd dig this up... Been listenin' to some MTB as I've been practicin' steel lately and I just wanted to say that I LOVE some of Toy's chops! Aside from a lot of the mainstream stuff I hadn't really given them a good listen. I really like the song Everybody Needs Somebody and think the steel is very tasteful and the solo is SWEET!

In My Own Way is a great tune as well. Great lyrics and the simplicity makes the song wonderful! Harmonica, fiddle, piano, guitar, and steel... Seems like a lot, but it's very simple sounding! I love it!

To Micky Adams: I've been enjoying AND learning from your videos on YouTube. LOVE your approach and style. They are GREAT training aides! Thanks!

JERRY THURMOND · Post by **JERRY THURMOND** » 18 Nov 2009 8:01 am

I seen MTB around 1980, when Toy sat down to the steel an they had already started a song, his steel was out of tune, he stop the song an tuned his guitar then they done the song. They was a great band an Toy was a very talented person, sure do miss him.

Jerry

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 18 Nov 2009 8:25 am

I always liked "See You Later, I'm Gone".
"Low Down Ways" was another fun MTB steel tune.
"Bob Away My Blues" and "Desert Skies"... killer!

Kevin Mincke · Post by **Kevin Mincke** » 18 Nov 2009 6:59 pm

24 hrs at a time.............

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 19 Nov 2009 5:37 am

"My idea of a good time is walkin' my property line...."

John Robel · Post by **John Robel** » 9 Dec 2009 4:49 pm

I GOT RAMBLIN,RAMBLIN ON MY MIND

John Robel · Post by **John Robel** » 9 Dec 2009 4:56 pm

saw mtb at eastern washington state college in the late 70s,(I think)cheech and chong were there that night too. dont remember much though we were all up in smoke

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