Soulshine: The Allman Brothers Band’s Where It All Begins at 30
Looking back on the group’s final studio LP with Dickey Betts
Despite the fact that it was the Allman Brothers’ 11th album,Where It All Begins was, as its title implied, a return to the band’s rural roots, musically as well as collaboratively.
Its line-up featured a mix of the group’s seminal core of musicians – Gregg Allman on keyboards and vocals, the recently departed Dickey Betts on guitar and vocals, and Butch Trucks and Jaimoe on drums — and relative newcomers Warren Haynes supplying guitar and vocals, the late Allen Woody anchoring the proceedings on bass and Marc Quiñones adding congas and percussion.
Also notable was producer Tom Dowd sitting behind the boards, fulfilling the role he had played early on in the band’s career. Naturally, he had a notable part to play in the proceedings, relocating the band from studio to a soundstage — that owned by actor Burt Reynolds in Jupiter Florida — where the Allmans were able to set up their concert gear and record live like they would in concert. In many ways, it recalled the epic effect of the seminal At Fillmore East album and the live side of Eat a Peach, two of the Allman’s early stand-outs.
Released on May 3, 1994, Where It All Begins marked the final album to feature Betts, who would subsequently opt for a solo career. Nevertheless, he managed to exit on the strength a final hurrah, given that one of the tracks he cowrote with John Prestia circa the early ‘80s, the prophetically titled “No One To Run With,” became an album radio favorite.
So too, Gregg Allman was confronting issues of his own, specifically the drug abuse that had plagued him in the past. The decidedly determined “All Night Train,” a co-write with Warren Haynes and keyboardist Chuck Leavell, reflected those struggles in a decidedly descriptive manner:
“Take me where I can ease my pain
Preacher say boy now where you been?
Getting lead in my pockets putting money in sin
When the mornin’ comes not a nickel to my name
Threw it all away on the all night train…”
While the album sold better than the band’s two previous studio efforts, 1990’s Seven Turns and 1991’s Shades of Two Worlds, there was no doubt that the Allman Brothers had plenty to prove this time around. The critical response was positive, if not overly enthusiastic, and sales eventually allowed it to ascend the album charts.
Again, as the title suggested, the music mined the familiarity factor to a great extent ,with songs as “Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea” and “What’s Done Is Done” referencing the melodic Southern rock template the Allmans had pioneered early on. Betts’ solo composition “Back Where It All Begins” typified the freewheeling approach the band was also well known for. “Soulshine,” a Warren Haynes offering, came across as a blues ballad that fit the Allman motif extremely well, especially with Gregg lending his typically gritty lead vocals and Betts and Haynes sharing their ringing twin guitar riffs.
Two other Betts contributions, “Change My Way of Living” and “Mean Woman Blues,” adhere to the rugged blues-based motif that was always at the core of the Allmans’ efforts. “Temptation Is a Gun,” Gregg Allman’s cowrite with — oddly enough — Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon of Journey, adds a further bluesy flourish to the proceedings. Betts’ final offering, “Everybody’s Got a Mountain to Climb,” comes across in an assertive manner, while still keeping to the melodic style Betts procured on songs such as “Ramblin’ Man,” “Melissa” and “Blue Sky” in particular.
Where It All Begins affirms the fact that the Allman Brothers were able to persevere despite the tragedy and tribulation that had plagued their collective career. To borrow the title of one of their most famous songs, it was indeed a revival.
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