2007 Soap Box Archives

Remembering A Friend

Stop and think and be honest with yourself. How many people do you know that you can truly call a friend?

I consider myself to be blessed with lots of friends but when you lose one, just one, it seems that your world has been diminished by more than a single person. It leaves an unfillable place in your life that could only be filled
by that one unique individual who is no longer around.

I've lost so many friends over the years, Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Leon Wilkerson, Toy and Tommy Caldwell, Stevie Ray Vaughn and the list goes on.

I lost another friend a few days ago. His name was George McCorkle and I know a lot of you will remember him as one of the founding members of The Marshall Tucker Band, the one who played that smoking electric guitar that
helped give Tucker that straight ahead powerful sound that came at you like a runaway 18 wheeler.

No band cooked harder than Marshall Tucker, in fact they're still cooking, still putting out that great sound that George helped to originate.

I'll never forget the first time I heard Tucker. We did a concert together in Nashville and they blew me away. After their set I walked into their dressing room and made friendships that last until this very day.

We've done more shows and traveled more miles with the MTB than any other band we've ever toured with. Night after night, show after show, mile after mile, we shared the stage and made the memories that make for special
friendships that transcend the years and mellow with age.

I've talked with Doug Gray and Paul Riddle since George passed away and we've all agreed to call each other more often, to stay in touch and nourish our treasured relationships that have lasted over thirty years. I think it's
important that we do, the years go by so quickly.

We just don't stop to think that every time we get together it could possibly be the last time we'll ever see each other.

George McCorkle was a gentle soul, humble and quick to smile and southern to the bone. He wrote one of the MTB's biggest hits, Fire On The Mountain and made a living as a songwriter in the last several years.


George will be sorely missed by his wife Vivian and his son, Justin, and scores of us other people who came into contact with him over the years.

George McCorkle was a man who had a lot of friends and I am so honored to say that I was one of them.

Rest in peace my dear old friend.

Pray for our troops

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

July 6, 2007