September 15, 1980, Germany:
"The Blues Band" from UK opened for the ABB in Sindelfingen/Stutgart. In the encore, Paul Jones (harmonica) and one of the guitar players (Tom McGuiness or Dave Kelly) plugged his guitar in. I only have a photo of Paul with Dickey, unfortunately none of the guitar player.
This has been my first of only three ABB shows, saw them again eleven years later in Cologne and then 22 years later at Jones Beach....

Hey Shorty,

Was at the same show in Cologne, Germany. 4th of July 1991! Favorite concert ever! No guests that night. My second fave concert was also the ABB (Duh!) in december 2008 in Asheville, NC. That concert
at Warren Haynes Christmas Jam was short for ABB standards (110 minutes) but loaded with amazing guests:

Roosevelt Collier
JJ Grey
Susan Tedeschi
Karl Denson
Ron Holloway
Danny Louis
Ruthie Foster
Ivan Neville

and especially:

Tal Wilkenfeld
Robben Ford
John Paul Jones

What a ridiculous list....what a night!

At the Chicago Theater in 2001, I saw a show with Larry McCray and Pinetop Perkins. They brought out Pinetop for The Sky is Crying and according to the database here, it was like the first time they played that song since 1975. Great show.

One of these days I gotta get the 4 or so shows with Steve Kimock.

Larry McCray is great, saw him open for Dickey in 2001 as well. Wasn't he the first person to record "Soulshine"?

Always loved the Jukes horns

At the Chicago Theater in 2001, I saw a show with Larry McCray and Pinetop Perkins. They brought out Pinetop for The Sky is Crying and according to the database here, it was like the first time they played that song since 1975. Great show.

I was at that show, front row right in front of Gregg. If you recall, Pinetop sat down right next to Gregg. It was so cool! And while it was great, I was so close I couldn't see over the piano & keys. It was still neat but I couldn't see Pinetop and could barely make out Gregg.

Larry McCray is great, saw him open for Dickey in 2001 as well. Wasn't he the first person to record "Soulshine"?

Yeah Larry recorded it first. 1993 on an album titled Delta Hurricane. So right before the ABB recorded it. Warren did actually write it though. I don't recall why Larry recorded it first. I guess you'd have to ask one of them.

Larry is a great guy. Lives not too far from where I lived in Michigan. Whenever the ABB would come to Michigan, just outside of Detroit, and twice in Lansing, he sat in. I had to hand it to him because he had to drive quite a way to get to the ABB shows but he would sit in for one song. As I recall it was usually on Southbound.

One night several years ago Mule played at a theater here in Chicago called The Vic. So they play the song with him and then Larry is playing at a blues club that night called the Kingston mines. It's a 4:00 AM bar. A few of us went to both the Mule's concert and Larry's show. Larry plays it twice so I heard that song live three times in one night.

And oh by the way, Larry is playing two nights here is Chicago at Kingston Mines this weekend! Heh.

Sorry, but you brought it up.

I could see Pinetop's head because I was 5th row right behind you lol. I've been bit with the front row blues myself. Saw Gov't Mule front row at the Brady Theater a couple years ago in Tulsa and a speaker was sitting right in front of me and it was a sit down show. I couldn't see anything!

I could see Pinetop's head because I was 5th row right behind you lol. I've been bit with the front row blues myself. Saw Gov't Mule front row at the Brady Theater a couple years ago in Tulsa and a speaker was sitting right in front of me and it was a sit down show. I couldn't see anything!

Heh, I went to a TTB show a couple years ago and was in the front row and Leon Russell opened. Couldn't see a thing over his piano.

Regarding Pinetop, several years ago I found out he was playing a small blues club to celebrate his 80th birthday on the west side of Chicago. I called the place and asked if I could get in. The guy says says yes and don't say anything but Koko Taylor will be there too.

I drag a buddy to the club and Pinetop didn't play much at all. Koko was bombed so she didn't take the stage at all, the whole night. But they brought out a birthday cake for him and while his band was playing he and I sat at a small table and had cake. He signed my ad for the show and the CD I bought.

Interesting evening.

Yeah Larry recorded it first. 1993 on an album titled Delta Hurricane. So right before the ABB recorded it. Warren did actually write it though. I don't recall why Larry recorded it first. I guess you'd have to ask one of them.

Warren was writing songs that were getting recorded by other artists a lot during that period. If Garth Brooks sold a hit single of my song ("Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House"), I'd probably keep writing and see what stuck too. Even Gregg recorded "Before the Bullets Fly" before the ABB reformed with Warren. My guess is "Soulshine" was just another song he wrote and maybe he threw it Larry's way. It definitely fit Larry's style.

A lot of other artist recorded "Soulshine" in the 1990s, makes me think it was just sitting around Nashville music libraries. "No One to Run With" was written by Dickey in 1980 (just as "Let Me Ride" had been around over a decade before Seven Turns), so my guess is they were looking for more material for Where It All Begins (just as they did for Hittin' the Note) and "Soulshine" got picked.

I've brought this up here before, but it's already bit of a rip off of (or, uh, "inspired by") Jesse Colin Young's "Light Shine". Though "Soulshine" is definitely an improvement:

Check out this photo of Good Brother Pine, he lived in my small town in Indiana for 20 years........I posted this taken on my 20th wedding anniversary............Peace.....joe
https://allmanbrothersband.com/index.php?module=My_eGallery&do=showpic&pid=5931

Great stories here. I went to the 2nd and 3rd Blues Masters at the Crossroads shows in Salina, KS in 99 and 2000. It was an annual concert held in an old church turned recording studio with the alter turned into the stage. Hubert Sumlin was there in 99 and stayed at the same motel I did. The next morning I saw him getting ice and I went over and talked to him and thanked him for a great show and he gave be a big hug!

Pinetop was there in 2000 and in the middle of a song, he just got up and went to take a leak lol! During his bathroom break, Jimmy D Lane sat down on the altar steps and played some of the best blues of the night.