One of my favorite “new” songs in recent years came out in 1994.
While I was, of course, listening to the Allman Brothers long before then, I wasn’t paying much attention at the time. Indeed, I’m not sure I was aware they were still putting out new material. In my defense, they had broken up a couple of times. By 1994, they’d added several new members to replace long-departed founders, including bandleader Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley. Most prominent among them was Warren Haynes, a virtuoso guitar player who wrote this song:
The Allman’s version of the song was fine but, if I heard it in its first twenty-five years of release, it didn’t make an impression.
This version, which came out in 2013, did:
As the opening credits note, it’s from Pat Green’s “Songs We Wish We’d Written II.” I prefer Green’s vocals and pacing to that of the Allman’s version.
But this live, solo version from Haynes—who not only wrote the song but is its namesake (“Soulshine” being his father’s nickname for him when he was a boy)—is even better:
(No idea why it’s not displaying inline like the other videos; it doesn’t seem to be sharing-disabled.)
One song, three versions. Which do you prefer?
