RO: Tell me about Soul of the South.

Gray: I went into this studio with some of the guys from the band and I wanted to do something different with some of the [soul music] that I'd loved. We had B.B. King open for us on a lot of dates. And I loved watching him. B.B. told me I needed to let some of that soul out of my body!

It was recorded at a time we weren't sure if the band was going to continue after Tommy died. Toy and I used to go to all these jazz and blues festivals, us country rednecks, then we went to service in Vietnam and came back. And we learned a lot from watching those guys. I still miss Toy a great deal.

RO: Which song do you still like singing the best personally?

DG: I have to start with the one that I have the audience sing first, and it's the one Toy used to sing, and that's "Can't You See." But some of the old ballads like "In My Own Way," and "24 Hours at a Time," which is all about Houston [opening line: "I've been down around Houston, Texas/ Where the sun shines most of the time"] are great. We also like to do a lot of jams live, depending on how much time we have.

RO: Any particular memories about playing Houston?

DG: I've got tons of friends down in Houston, and that's from the days of the original Holiday Inn downtown before they imploded it. I'd get out on 59 when there were just a few buildings out there. And some of our finest shows were at Rockefeller's. The Summit was the first show that we played after Tommy died, and we recorded that.

RO: Finally, the famous story of how you got the band name is that you found a key ring in a rehearsal space with the name "Marshall Tucker" on it, and it turned out he was a blind piano tuner who had rented the space before you. Did you ever meet him?

DG: Oh yeah, several times. The first time was when CBS flew him in. He's blind and his wife is blind too. So we talked in a restaurant and they filmed it. I remember he leaned into me and whispered "You've never let me down yet, don't let me down now!"

He retired two years ago, and we sent him a gold record and some stuff. And it's the least I could do because when we started out, they spelled his name wrong. We were opening for the Allman Brothers, and the [marquee] just had "Marshal" We told the promoter it was wrong, and he said, "But I only have one 'L'!"

The Marshall Tucker Band and Blue Oyster Cult play 8 p.m. Friday at the Arena Theatre, 7326 SW Fwy, 713-772-5900.