Alabama Shakes returns with big tour, new songs and an album in the works
Alabama Shakes is back with a bang. The rock-soul group just launched its second major tour last week in as many years after returning to the studio to create the long-awaited follow-up to its 2015 sophomore album “Sound & Color.” All this follows a late 2024 surprise appearance in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, that signaled the band’s return after a six-year hiatus.
“It’s been wild,” said guitarist Heath Fogg on a recent call. “It’s a reunion, and just hanging out and … playing the shows and that’s all been really good. And then, you know, we’ve been working on a record basically this whole time.”
Heading to Atlanta for the second time in seven months, Alabama Shakes will perform at Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park on Friday. It’s also at the awkward transitory juncture of having a bunch of songs ready to unleash but a summer’s worth of tour dates before most of them reach our speakers.
“It’s supposed to come out this summer — maybe an August release,” Fogg said about the album set originally for June. Now a trio after drummer Steve Johnson’s exit following legal issues, singer-guitarist Brittany Howard, bassist Zac Cockrell and Fogg have worked with other players to complement their sound. Touring drummer Noah Bond and percussionist Lewis Wright contributed to the album, and Cockrell plays drums on one track.
In addition to recording with longtime engineer Sean Everett, the band tried its hand with its original touring keyboard player at the helm. “We did a session with our friend and bandmate Ben Tanner, and as a band we’d never recorded with him before so that was really fun,” Fogg said.
Initially at least, there was no firm plan that an album would happen. “I don’t think that (during the) first session, we had said we were really making a record,” Fogg said. “We were just gonna get in the studio and write and see what happened.”
To borrow a title of one of their songs, the musicians decided to simply “hang loose.” “Just bringing in some friends, some new folks and just trying to have fun,” said Fogg about the early sessions. “And it quickly turned into, like, ‘Let’s just make a record.’”
The band’s new label Island has shared two songs so far. The soulful, yearning “Another Life” was one of the first completed and then unveiled last summer. “American Dream” was released April 10, its sharp message echoing across a spacey, echo-drenched atmosphere. Howard’s lyrics reflect anguish about the national state of affairs as she sings: “How many folks got shot this week?/It’s enough to make you wanna go back to sleep” and asks repeatedly, “What are we doing?”
The track features the band’s hallmarks: Howard’s soaring vocals, sonic experimentation and the dual-guitar stylings of Fogg and Howard in the spirit of the shared riff that kicks off the 2015 hit “Don’t Wanna Fight.”
“I’ve always liked playing guitar with Britt,” Fogg said. “It seems natural, and I like being in a two-guitar band.”
Alabama Shakes has always been a force of nature onstage, and its 2025 return included a thunderous, well-received set at Shaky Knees Festival last September in Piedmont Park.
For last year’s shows, the group reintroduced songs long fallen by the wayside, including “Someday” and “Drive By Baby” — outtakes from the “Sound & Color” sessions later added to the album’s reissue. Fogg called the latter “a fun little rock ‘n’ roll song” and said, “I think we played it every night on the last run.”
Another standout was the “Sound & Color” track “Guess Who.” “I felt like it found a new groove,” Fogg said. “Sometimes I feel like people brand us as this big R&B band or something but to me (‘Guess Who’ is) the sort of stuff we do that I sometimes like the most — just the quirky little pretty songs.”
On the new tour, the band is introducing at least two more songs, “Tied to You” and “Feel Hope Coming.” “We’re just focusing on seeing which songs will be best for this run … testing the waters and seeing what feels right,” Fogg said.
Formed in Athens, Alabama, in 2009, the Shakes generated buzz with demos that became 2012 ATO debut “Boys & Girls,” reaching No. 6 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The band quickly leaped from Alabama bars to global venues. Three years later, “Sound & Color” debuted at No. 1 and scored four Grammys.
The group won another Grammy for its version of Memphis Minnie’s “Killer Diller Blues” from the multi-artist American Epic sessions using 1920s technology. The combination of five players and one microphone led to a dynamic alien to modern recording. “The further back you were, the louder you had to play,” Fogg said. “And there was an energy in the room because of that. I was proud to be part of it.”
The hiatus that started in 2018 surprised many given the scale of the band’s success. Howard, though, decided it was imperative she make her own album at that moment. 2019’s “Jamie,” named for her late sister, won acclaim, as did the 2024 follow-up and Prince-influenced “What Now.”
While the other Shakes worked on various projects, Cockrell also played on Howard’s albums and associated tours. And after the late 2024 reappearance, the members expressed joy at reuniting and shared a forward focus. All indications, from this second tour to the deal with Island, point to the musicians reasserting themselves as a band.
It’s fitting that the road back leads through Atlanta. A decade-plus since Alabama Shakes drove east to play its first show in this city at the Earl, it has become a top destination for the band.
“Just getting to play there this past summer was really good,” Fogg said. “Looking forward to getting back, for sure.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Alabama Shakes
8 p.m. Friday. With special guest Mon Rovîa. $77-$171. Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park, 4469 Stella Drive NW, Atlanta. synovusbankampatchastainpark.com.
