Swampland:Silver Travis Show Was A Tuckerized Southern Rock Reunion

Silver Travis Show Was A Tuckerized Southern Rock Reunion

Posted: Jul 24, 2010

Silver Travis
Michael Buffalo Smith
and Guests
The Handlebar, Greenville, SC
July 23, 2010

It was nothing short of a family reunion. After all, I had worked with the Silver Travis band back in the early 1980’s as their sound and light man and songwriter. When they broke up after just a few short years I had no idea they would reunite in 2004 and sound even better than before, but they did.

Tonight it was all the old Spartanburg friends getting together to celebrate the music of Silver Travis and the influence of fellow homeboys The Marshall Tucker Band.

I opened the show with a solo acoustic set, playing songs from my first five albums, and starting the MTB tribute with a sol “Fire On the Mountain.”

When Silver Travis took the stage at The Handlebar, they didn’t slow down until the final notes of an extraordinary Southern Rock jam had wafted into the night.

I was completely thrilled they started off the set with a retooling of one of the old Steve Harvey songs from the old days, “Long Gone.” I always loved that one, and it gave me chills hearing it again after some 28 years.

Next came the title track from their CD, “Take The High Road,” a song written by John Gillie, a man who was not in the original band, but joined in 2005 bringing great acoustic and electric guitar, vocals and songwriting in with him. As a side note, John was in a band in Tryon, NC with me back in 1990 called Frontline. Another link in our brotherhood chain.

Silver Travis features the unique and amazing vocals of Big Rick Cash; the smoking Southern fried lead guitar of Randall Calvert; and the ultra tight rhythm section of Joey Parrish on bass and Mike Satterfield on drums, along with their latest addition, the also stellar Brad Durden on keyboards.

Highlights included “Honky Tonk Shuffle,” the pop rockin’ “Point of No Return,” the beautiful “Bad Case of Loving You,” and a new song called “Nothing’s Changed” that is a Top Ten country hit waiting to happen. Seriously, that one song alone could slide Silver Travis right into the Rascall Flatts/Zac brown Band slot.

After their extended red hot set, the band began bringing out friends. First up was founding Marshall Tucker Band member and a man who can often be found standing in for Jaimoe with The Allman Brothers Band, Paul T. Riddle. Also joining in was Tim Lawter, the bassist for Marshall Tucker for over 15 years, With Riddle and Satterfield on two drum kits, it was a real Southern rock jam as they rocked some MTB with “This Ol Cowboy” and the long version of “24 Hours: complete with Lawter re-creating Tommy Caldwell’s bass solo and George McCorkle’s son Justin on guitar.

I was asked to come out a sing a couple and happily obliged, as we went down to the “Crossroads” and then the band pulled out all the stops on “Can’t You See” with Toy Caldwell Band drummer Mark Burrell playing alongside Paul Riddle, and Donnie Duncan joining the guitar lineup to seriously smoke some strings alongside Randall Calvert and Justin McCorkle and your's truly on lead vocal.

Rick Cash took over lead vocal duties to close the jam out with The Allman’s “Southbound,” with Paul T. and Mark staying on the drum kits.

It had been one Southern rocking, sweat soaked show and just a thrill for this ol’ boy, surrounded by old friends, family and heroes like Paul Riddle.

We thank The Handlebar and a big thanks to Freddie Wooten at Palmetto drums for providing drums and helping Paul T. all night.

The audience obviously had a great time, but I doubt they could have as much fun as we did. It was all of us coming home again - where we all belong.

-Michael Buffalo Smith

SET LISTS

Michael Buffalo Smith

Natural Born Cowboy
Stone Houses
Painting Her Toenails
I Want Paris Hilton to Be My Friend
Karl Childers’ Blues
Fairytales
Smell All The Roses
Something Heavy (Eddie Hinton)
Johnny Taylor’s Doin’ Alright
Fire On The Mountain (George McCorkle)
Into The Light

Silver Travis

Long Gone
The High Road
Let it Shine
Wishing Well
You Done Me Wrong
All I Need
Warm Inside
Time For a Change
Honky Tonk Shuffle
Bad Case of Loving You
Point of No Return
If You’ve Got Troubles
Nothing’s Changed
Everyday Grind (w/ Buffalo)
Rooster
Southern Poet
Back to Carolina
Chain Gang
This Ol’ Cowboy (w/ Paul Riddle, Tim Lawter)
24 Hours at a Time (w/ Paul Riddle, Tim Lawter, Justin McCorkle)
Crossroads (w/ Buffalo, Justin McCorkle)
Can’t You See (w/ Buffalo, Paul Riddle, Mark Burrell, Justin McCorkle, Donnie Duncan)
Southbound (w/ Paul Riddle, Mark Burrell)