Performance review by Roger Zee (03/14/19)
Right after SoulShine ABB polished off two beautiful sets at Garcia's March 13, 2019, I ran into Geoff Hartwell, their slide guitarist supreme, outside the theater where he shared the group's vision with me. "We're a tribute band, but we don't wear wigs and dress up in costume. We want to pay homage to the Allman Brothers but we don't want to put them in a box! We celebrate the players and honor their music. That's it." To commemorate the anniversary of the Allman's "Live at the Fillmore East," SoulShine ABB played the entire album and another full set of their classics. The group consists of Hartwell (guitar, vocals), Norm Dodge (guitar, vocals), Bob Goetz (bass, vocals), Chris Burke (keys, vocals), Ron Negro (drums), and Rob Wallis (drums). Mark the Harper joined the group on harp for two songs ("Done Somebody Wrong" and "You Don't Love Me").
SoulShineABB merged long-time veterans of the Westchester Music scene Powderfinger (Goetz, Dodge, Negro) and The Geoff Hartwell Band (Hartwell, Burke) with Rob Wallis (founder of the Drum Collective). Tribute bands do bigger business than cover bands. They get to play Tarrytown Music Hall and Ridgefield playhouse instead of clubs. But a number of concerns gnawed at me. For one, Powderfinger prides themselves on adhering strictly to the recording while the Hartwell band views the tunes as a launching pad for self-expression. How would this work out? Well thankfully, they meet in the middle! The rhythm section sticks close to the original grooves while the soloists tatoo their names in the Allman ledger! But I needed the answer to one more question. Could SoulShineABB get people up and dancing the way all the great Classic Rock Jam bands do for most of the show? The magic feet hypnosis started halfway through "Elizabeth Reid," generously helped by the trippy light show by Robert Russell (Prognosis), and didn't stop until the music ended with "Whipping Post." In the second set, people groovated from the start to finish.
Like The Band in the Sixties, this group generously splits the lead vocals between four different players' distinctive voices. Chris Burke killed it on "Whipping Post" and "Ain't Wasting Time." Geoff Hartwell nailed "Statesboro Blues," "One Way Out" and "Soulshine." Norm sounded great on "Trouble No More," "Dreams," and "Revival," and Bob Goetz excelled on "No One Left to Run." The rhythm section maintained a taught, crisp, clean trampoline while launching the soloists to greater and greater heights, enabling Hartwell, Dodge, and Burke to stamp their indelible mark on the music. Hartwell especially stands out with his amalgam of slide techniques gleaned from Duane Allman, Derek Trucks, Sonny Landredth, along with his own innovations.
With the music business collapsing and in shambles, hooking into the tribute band movement seems like a very smart and viable move for veteran talents, especially ones like SoulShineABB who've actually worked with members of the Allman Brothers as well as on Broadway. So jonesin' for the Allmans? Get your fix right here!~
©2019 Roger Zee