Alabama Shakes

I’m in love. With Alabama Shakes. With Brittany Howard.

I was completely depressed by my fight with the politicos in Taos County over water rights and needed some relief. So I put on Alabama Shakes, turned up the volume, and fell in love. How could I not, listening to Brittany sing, “Bless my heart, bless my soul, I didn’t think I’d make it to 22 years old.” And then she sings, “I’m not whom I used to be.”

Who is this Alabama child? All I know from the internet sites is that she started playing guitar in high school, went to another guitar player in high school and said, hey, want to play guitar together in high school and write some songs? Add a drummer, a lead guitarist (although Brittany is lead any time she wants) and somehow, these twenty something southern post high school band mates are the bomb.

It’s kind of R&B, kind of blues, kind of white southern rock, with a twist of female angst that takes it someplace else. She’s soulful, she’s sassy, she’s big, she’s beautiful, “she’s black, she’s white” (as one fellow Alabaman described her), she’s rock ‘n’roll! 

Some in the media have been comparing her to Janis Joplin, but she defers from this and rightly so. While they both have that raspy voice, Brittany rocks out with something equally primal but with more cool than angst. In one interview she talks about singing at the Grammys with Mavis Staples (see I'll Take You There) and how unique Staples’ phrasing is in any genre: gospel or blues or R&B. Maybe we’ll be saying that about Brittany, too, as she starts off on a career that will hopefully take her wherever she wants to go.

And along with the voice she can play that guitar. I carry many guitar riffs around in my head—the opening strain of “Gimme Shelter,” Mark Knopfler on “Sultans of Swing,” Eric Clapton on “Layla”—and now I’ve got the driving garage band guitar on “Hang Loose” and “I’m Not the Same.” And it’s a woman doing the driving! Keep hanging in there, Brittany, we’ll be with you every step of the way.