‘We were in danger of running it into the ground’: Brittany Howard on fleeing fame, fighting Trump and the epic return of Alabama Shakes
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- Alabama Shakes reunited at the 1,000-capacity Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa on December 18, 2024, ending a seven-year hiatus with an unannounced fundraiser show for a friend's struggling brewery
- Brittany Howard released solo single "American Dream" in April 2025, which went viral on TikTok and Instagram and addresses gun violence, climate, abortion rights, low wages and Trump's White House renovations
- The band is releasing third album "I Must Be Dreaming", described as a radical departure from their retro-soul sound, with ethereal and psychedelic textures including flutes on the dreamlike opener Tea Time
- Howard says the band stopped in 2017 because they were "physically and creatively spent" with babies due in two of the three households and feared running the group "into the ground"
- Howard's solo career between hiatuses included twice-Grammy-nominated "Jaime" (2019), named for her sister who died of retinoblastoma, and "What Now" (2024)
- Original drummer Steve Johnson received a suspended sentence in 2020 for violating a domestic violence protection order and was later arrested over willful abuse of a child
- The band played Leeds' Millennium Square on this tour — their first European gig in a decade
Why it matters: Alabama Shakes' sudden return — anchored by Howard's viral protest single and a sonically adventurous third album — reinserts one of America's most acclaimed roots-rock acts into a 2026 cultural moment the source describes as starved of resonant political music. The 7-year absence ending at a grassroots 1,000-capacity Tuscaloosa fundraiser, rather than a label-orchestrolled relaunch, signals how the band's reunion is fan-driven after the early-2010s streaming-era model that minted them has faded.
