Marcus King, Oteil Burbridge, Paul Riddle and More Salute Marshall Tucker Band with Toy Factory Project at Telluride Bluegrass Festival

When Telluride Bluegrass Festival unveiled its 52nd-annual lineup back in December, one name among the titanic headliners–including Jason Isbell, Alison Krauss & Union Station and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings–stood out: Toy Factory Project. After months of rumors regarding the unknown act, it was formally unveiled as a proper Southern rock supergroup honoring the late Toy Caldwell and the music of the Marshall Tucker Band. On Saturday, June 21, the ensemble finally made its long-awaited debut with an electrifying evening of reinvigorated classics and eclectic covers.

Led and assembled by Marshall Tucker Band’s co-founding drummer Paul T. Riddle, the ensemble revived the legendary songs of co-founding guitarist and principal songwriter Caldwell with an all-star cast of Southern rock torchbearers. Riddle first imagined the project 13 years ago to recognize the achievements of Caldwell, who passed in 1993, and found the right band to carry his mantle after years of false starts with devotees like Marcus King on guitar and vocals, Oteil Burbridge on bass, Charlie Starr on guitar and vocals, Josh Shilling on keys and vocals and Billy Contreras on fiddle.

Onstage at Telluride Bluegrass, the Toy Factory Project was much more than a tribute. With such an esteemed cast of performers collectively representing Dead & Company, Blackberry Smoke, the best of Nashville’s session scene and more, the band remained faithful to the originators’ spirit while adding new warmth and color with Shilling’s Hammond B3 organ and Contreras’ fiddle, supercharged by the dual guitar attack from King and Starr. Over Riddle’s intricate backbeat, the group delivered outstanding covers of Marshall Tucker Band essentials like “This Ol’ Cowboy,” “In My Own Way” and “Blue Ridge Mountain Sky” with covers including the Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain” before concluding with a fiery “Can’t You See” and high-spritied “Take the Highway.”

The unforgettable Telluride Bluegrass Festival headline set was just the start for the Toy Factory Project, which preceded its debut with recording sessions at Peter Frampton’s recording studio in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood. The supergroup has shared that they cut an album that reinterprets the Marshall Tucker Band’s classic catalog, including special guest appearances from Frampton and Vince Gill, though no official release date or tour dates for the band have been revealed. 

Watch the Toy Factory Project’s announcement video below.