After a decade away, Alabama Shakes are suddenly a living, breathing band again. Brittany Howard spoke with Kyle Meredith about the unlikely chain of events that brought her back together with Zac Cockrell and Heath Fogg, eventually leading to the band’s third album, I Must Be Dreaming. What began as a surprise appearance at a fundraiser grew into rehearsals, three prospective songs, then seven, and finally, a full album steeped in psychedelic soul while wrestling with fear, responsibility, and the possibility of hope.
The reunion started with an old friend in Tuscaloosa whose brewery had been hit hard by COVID. Brittany Howard agreed to perform at his fundraiser, then realized the man had been equally important to her Alabama Shakes bandmates during their lean early days. She invited Zac Cockrell and Heath Fogg and secretly brought them onstage for “Hang Loose” and “Hold On.” “It kind of took me back to a place where every music was exciting, the world was exciting,” Howard remembers. “It’s like this nostalgia for ourselves of becoming not just friends and fellow musicians, but also family.”
The Creation of I Must Be Dreaming
Soon they were swapping music and demos again, with an intended three-song EP snowballing into I Must Be Dreaming. Howard says they had no interest in retracing old steps: “We weren’t going in to recreate Boys & Girls or Sound & Color. It’s kind of just like what we asked each other, ‘What are you into now?’ And we went from there.”
That question led Alabama Shakes toward an album where Howard’s interior life keeps colliding with an increasingly unnerving outside world, particularly on “I Feel Hope Coming.” Getting there wasn’t easy. “I didn’t feel like writing any music or singing any songs,” she admits. “I very much wanted to almost disappear because it’s easier that way.”
A Message of Hope and Responsibility
Instead, Howard forced herself through the paralysis, and the resulting optimism isn’t exactly soft-focus reassurance. “There’s no leader and there’s no savior. We are leaders. We are the saviors,” she says, arguing that anger and outrage can be evidence that people are finally ready to move. “I don’t think we can go on being the exact same people that we have been. I think it’s time for more responsibility for ourselves, but also for each other, taking care of each other.”
Listen to Brittany Howard talk about I Must Be Dreaming, Alabama Shakes finding their way back to each other, and more in the new episode above or by watching the video below. Keep up on all the latest episodes by following Kyle Meredith With… on your favorite podcast platform; plus, check out all the series on the Consequence Podcast Network.
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