Alabama Shakes | |
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 Alabama Shakes performing inSanta Monica in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Athens, Alabama, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active |
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| Labels | ATO |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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| Website | alabamashakes |
Alabama Shakes are an American rock band formed inAthens, Alabama, in 2009. The band currently consists of lead singer and guitaristBrittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, and bassist Zac Cockrell.
The band began its career touring and performing at bars and clubs around theSoutheastern United States for two years while honing its sound and writing music. They recorded their debut album,Boys & Girls, with producer Andrija Tokic inNashville while still unsigned. Online acclaim ledATO Records to sign the band, which releasedBoys & Girls in 2012 to critical success. The album'shit single, "Hold On," was nominated for threeGrammy Awards. After a long touring cycle, the band recorded its second record,Sound & Color, which was released in 2015, debuted at number one on theBillboard 200, and won them three Grammy Awards, includingBest Rock Song for "Don't Wanna Fight." In 2018, the band won theGrammy Award for Best American Roots Performance for their rendition of "Killer Diller Blue" in the filmThe American Epic Sessions, bringing their Grammy total to four.
On December 18, 2024, the band reunited for a surprise performance at the Druid City Music Hall in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1] On January 27, 2025, the band posted on Instagram that they are working on new music,[2] and in February 2025, Alabama Shakes announced a reunion tour scheduled July to September, 2025.[3]
Brittany Howard grew up interested in music, filling notebooks with lyrics and teaching herself to play drums, bass, and guitar.[4] Howard played in multiple bands at East Limestone High School that helped to formulate and craft her taste in music. Her most serious band in her early years was Kerosene Swim Team, a rock band that consisted of Owen Whitehurst and Jonathan Passero. They went on to have a single titled "Coffins and Cadillacs" featured on a compilation track from now defunct indie label Volital Records. They would practice daily after school in Passero's garage, Whitehurst's garage, and Howard's house. They mainly played house parties, and their songs consisted of a mix of covers and originals penned by Howard. Both Whitehurst and Passero continued playing backup for Howard, with Whitehurst playing with Howard and Shakes' bassist Zac Cockrell in what would eventually become The Shakes. Whitehurst played drums and piano, with Howard and Cockrell playing their current respective instruments.[5]
Howard met Heath Fogg in junior high when he played guitar at house parties.[4] She met classmate and bassist Zac Cockrell in a psychology class some time later, and they soon began to spend time listening to their favorite music together and writing their own.[6] After graduation, Howard hosted twice-weekly jam sessions at her great-grandparents' former home. Drummer Steve Johnson, who had heard Howard singing at a party years prior, began attending the jam sessions at the suggestion of Cockrell.[7] They began making music together and recording homemade demos[7] having little else to do in the small town.[4]
The group made its live debut in May 2009 under the name "The Shakes."[7] Fogg, at this point a guitarist in theAthens-based Tuco's Pistol, invited the group to open for his band at Brick Deli & Tavern inDecatur.[6] The band was nervous to perform for an audience, as they felt "vulnerable." Their set included covers ofLed Zeppelin,James Brown,Otis Redding, andAC/DC.[7] The show went over well, and Fogg soon joined the group.[4] During this time the band members held other day jobs: Howard as a fry cook and then a postal worker, Johnson at theBrowns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, Cockrell at an animal clinic, and Fogg painting houses.[8] For much of their early years, the Shakes performed shows on weekends at "sports bars and country dives."[9] They also began recording their debut album at Tokic's Bomb Shelter—the home of producer Andrija Tokic—inNashville, funding the recordings themselves.[4] The band chose Tokic's over other studios because they recorded mostly live to tape, and they believed it would spur a livelier performance. The band would complete arrangements in their hometown and drive an hour and a half north to Nashville to record in intervals over the course of 2011.[10]
Their breakthrough came when Justin Gage, a Los Angeles music blogger andSiriusXM host, found a photo of Howard performing online. After contacting the band in July 2011, he posted anMP3 of their song "You Ain't Alone" on his music blog,Aquarium Drunkard.[4][11] By the next morning, the group was awash in offers from record labels and management companies.[4] Gage also contactedPatterson Hood, vocalist of the bandDrive-By Truckers, who attended a show not long after. He arranged to set the band up with his managers, Christine Stauder and Kevin Morris.[12] Alabama Shakes released a four-song EP,Alabama Shakes, in September 2011, which gained media attention (includingNPR)[13] and earned an invitation to play at the CMJ Music Marathon industry showcase in New York.[14] The band began negotiating a record deal with ATO Records and added "Alabama" to their name after Joseph Hicks, of Halo Stereo, noticed how many groups shared the name "The Shakes".[4][15] They began to open for theDrive-By Truckers.[16]
The band's first full-length album,Boys & Girls, was released in April 2012.[17] It debuted at number 16 on the national charts as a digital-only release,[17] but climbed to number eight as physical releases were distributed.[7] The album received near-universal acclaim.[4] After a European tour, they opened forJack White over a summer tour and performed at several major music festivals, includingSasquatch,Bonnaroo andLollapalooza.[7] The album'slead single, "Hold On" was a radio hit (peaking at number one onBillboard'sAdult Alternative Songs chart)[18] and was dubbed the best song of the year byRolling Stone.[19]
The New York Times credited their "rapid ascent" to "Howard's singular stage presence."[4] The group received three nominations for the2013 Grammy Awards:Best New Artist,Best Rock Performance for "Hold On," andBest Recording Package for their debut album,Boys & Girls.[20][21] After the Grammy's performance,Boys & Girls returned to the top 10, peaking at number six a year after its release.[18]Boys & Girls was certified Gold by theRIAA for sales of over 500,000 in the United States on March 13, 2013.[22] It has since sold over 744,000 copies in the US.[18]
The band began recording their second album in late 2013. They spent over a year in the studio, with no clear end-goal, as they had not written any new songs due to their exhaustive touring schedule.[8]
The group's second studio album,Sound & Color, was released on April 21, 2015.[23][24][25] It debuted at number one on theBillboard 200 in the US, making it the band's first number one album.[18] The record's lead single, "Don't Wanna Fight", was a number two hit on the Adult Alternative Songs chart.[18] The album eventually earned threeGrammy Awards, includingBest Alternative Music Album.[26][27]
The band played for the VMworld 2015 Party at ATT park in San Francisco on September 2, 2015, and Barclays British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London on July 8, 2016.
In 2018, the band won theGrammy Award for Best American Roots Performance for their rendition of "Killer Diller Blue" in the filmThe American Epic Sessions, which was directed byBernard MacMahon.[28] They recorded the song live on the restored firstelectrical sound recording system from the 1920s.[29]
In 2018, the band went on hiatus to allow Howard to focus on her debut solo album,Jaime, which was released to critical acclaim in 2019.[30] The following year, in June 2020, guitarist Heath Fogg released his debut solo project under the name Sun on Shade.[31]
In March 2020, drummer Steve Johnson pleaded guilty todomestic violence, harassment and stalking in relation to his ex-wife, following their divorce after three and a half years of marriage. He received a one-year suspended prison sentence and 24 months' probation. On March 24, 2021, Johnson was arrested on suspicion ofchild abuse and was subsequently indicted by a grand jury on charges of "wilful torture, wilful abuse, and cruelly beating or otherwise wilfully maltreating a child under the age of 18."[32] He was released on bail.[33] The charge was later dismissed in December 2021.[34]
In February 2024, Howard released her second solo album,What Now, to widespread critical acclaim. The album placed highly on several end-of-year critics lists and was supported by extensive touring, including performances atCoachella,Glastonbury Festival andBonnaroo Festival.
On December 18, 2024, Brittany Howard, Zac Cockrell and Heath Fogg reunited for a surprise performance at the Druid City Music Hall in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[35] On January 27, 2025, the band posted on Instagram that they are working on new music.[2]
On February 7, 2025, the band announced their first tour in eight years, and confirmed that new music will be released as a three-piece, with Johnson no longer a member of the band following his legal troubles. Howard stated: "Last year, Heath, Zac, and I started chatting about how much fun it would be to make music together and tour again as Alabama Shakes. This band and these songs have been such a source of joy for all of us. It is crazy that it has been 10 years since we releasedSound & Color and eight years since we played a show. But, we didn’t want this to entirely be a look back. We wanted it to be as much about the future as the past. So we have a bunch of new music that will be released soon. We just can’t wait to experience that ‘feeling’ when we start playing those first few notes of ‘Don’t Wanna Fight’ or ‘Gimme All Your Love.’"[36]
Early critical reviews of their debut,Boys & Girls (2012), noted that the band borrowed from mid-20th century rhythm and blues.[37][38] Alongside Howard's voice, the songs were compared to artists such asJanis Joplin,Otis Redding, andAretha Franklin.[9] Howard herself took inspiration fromBon Scott ofAC/DC in her vocal style, praising his "soulful" way of singing.[7] As the acclaim mounted, "reviewers speculated" that their sound was in homage to the music produced inMuscle Shoals, Alabama nearly five decades prior. Cockrell and Fogg were aware of the Shoals legacy,[19] but Howard was more influenced by bands such asLed Zeppelin and artists likeDavid Bowie. The success of debut single "Hold On" led some to believe the group "[was] trying to pass themselves off as revivalists, something they never aspired to be."[4]
Their second record,Sound & Color (2015), is steeped in several different genres, and touches on everything fromshoegaze to bands such asMC5.[37]
Alabama Shakes has been cited as an influence for artists such asDrake,Childish Gambino, andBeyoncé.[39][40][41]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Alabama Shakes | Best New Artist | Nominated |
| "Hold On" | Best Rock Performance | Nominated | |
| 2014 | "Always Alright" | Nominated | |
| 2016 | "Don't Wanna Fight" | Won | |
| Best Rock Song | Won | ||
| Sound & Color | Album of the Year | Nominated | |
| Best Alternative Music Album | Won | ||
| 2017 | "Joe"(Live from Austin City Limits) | Best Rock Performance | Nominated |
| 2018 | "Killer Diller Blues"(The American Epic Sessions) | Best American Roots Performance | Won |
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Boys & Girls | AIM Independent Music Awards for Independent Album of the Year | Nominated |
| Alabama Shakes | AIM Independent Music Awards for Independent Breakthrough Act | Nominated | |
| Q Award for Best New Act | Nominated | ||
| Americana Music Honors & Award for Emerging Artist of the Year | Won | ||
| Rober Awards Music Poll for Best Songwriter[44] | Nominated | ||
| 2013 | BRIT Award for International Group | Nominated | |
| NME Awards for Best New Band | Nominated | ||
| AIM Independent Music Award for Most Played New Independent Act | Nominated | ||
| Libera Award for Best Live Act[45] | Won | ||
| Boys & Girls | Libera Award for Album of the Year[46] | Won | |
| 2014 | "You Ain't Alone" inDallas Buyers Club | Libera Award for Best Sync Usage[47] | Nominated |
| 2015 | Alabama Shakes | NME Awards for Best International Band | Nominated |
| Rober Awards Music Poll for Best Group or Duo[48] | Nominated | ||
| Rober Awards Music Poll for Best Rock Artist[48] | Nominated | ||
| 2016 | BRIT Award for International Group | Nominated | |
| Sound & Color | Billboard Music Awards for Top Rock Album | Nominated | |
| AIM Independent Music Award for Best Second Album | Nominated | ||
| Album of the Year[49][50] | Won | ||
| Libera Award for Groundbreaking Album of the year | Nominated | ||
| Libera Award for Marketing Genius | Won | ||
| Alabama Shakes | Libera Award for Best Live Act | Won | |
| iPad Pro Commercial | Libera Award for Best Sync Usage | Nominated | |
| Alabama Shakes | Americana Music Honors & Award for Duo/Group of the Year | Nominated | |
| 2017 | Transparent Season 3 (Official Trailer)[51] | Libera Award for Best Sync Usage | Nominated |
| Preceded by | Saturday Night Livemusical guest February 16, 2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Saturday Night Live musical guest February 28, 2015 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
