Thomas Michael Caldwell (November 9, 1949 – April 28, 1980) was the

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

for

The Marshall Tucker Band The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. Wh ...

between 1973 and 1980. Caldwell composed several of their songs and played bass, percussion, guitar, as well as contributing backup vocals, though he sang lead on "Melody Ann" the only song on which he performed lead vocals. His last performance with the band was on April 18, 1980, ten days before his fatal accident. The performance is captured on the 2006 release, '' Live on Long Island''. Caldwell was known for playing a white 1970s

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (or "P-Bass") is a model of bass guitar, electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument ...

with a Dimarzio Split Coil Pickup. A mix of finger style and picked bass as well as his use of tube amplifiers contributed to Caldwell's signature sound. A native of

Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. The Office of Management and Budg ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, he died at the age of 30 from injuries suffered when his Land Cruiser clipped a parked 1965 Ford Galaxie on April 28, 1980.

The Charlie Daniels Band Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, and was a pioneering contribution to Southern rock and progressive country. He was ...

's 1980 album '' Full Moon'' is dedicated to Caldwell.

Personal life

He was the younger

brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

of bandmate and band co-founder,

Toy Caldwell Toy Talmadge Caldwell Jr. (November 13, 1947 – February 25, 1993) was an American musician who was most notable as the lead guitarist and main songwriter of the 1970s Southern Rock group The Marshall Tucker Band. A founding member of the b ...

. Another brother, Tim Caldwell, also died in a traffic accident one month before Tommy, on March 28, 1980, at age 25.Tim Caldwell gravestone photo
slobotabouttown.com (retrieved 23 January 2015).

References

External links

* 1949 births 1980 deaths American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American Southern rock musicians Road incident deaths in South Carolina 20th-century American bass guitarists The Marshall Tucker Band members 20th-century American male musicians {{US-bass-guitarist-stub