5X GRAMMY WINNER BRITTANY HOWARD RELEASES CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED WHAT NOW
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2024 HEADLINE TOUR - ON SALE NOW
Photo Credit: Bobbi Rich
“‘What Now,’ an album filled with wailing soul, jittery funk and buzzing grooves [is] born of frustration, pain, love and intense questioning.” - The New York Times
“a crackling energy that transcends age or genre” – NPR
“The album’s constantly shifting tone is the perfect backdrop for lyrics that map out the embattled middle-spaces of love, always with an eye towards the emotional ironies that undergird, embolden, and/or problematize desire.” - Rolling Stone
“a guided tour through a wide range of musical styles and feelings.” - Associated Press
“Brittany Howard enters her ‘High Priestess’ Era” - The Hollywood Reporter
“Howard revels in the possibilities that her mighty, versatile voice offers…” - Variety
9 FEBRUARY 2024 (TORONTO, ON) — With five Grammy® wins and sixteen nominations under her belt, powerhouse vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Brittany Howard, releases WHAT NOW – the hotly anticipated, revelatory second solo album and first via Island Records . The album, which has found itself on multiple 2024 “must-hear” album lists including The New York Times, NPR, Grammy.com, Pitchfork, TIME, and more, comes after previously released title-track “What Now,” which Pitchfork called “a quaking introduction to her next chapter,” “Red Flags” deemed by The New York Times as a “moodier and more meditative side of her versatile sound,” and “Prove It To You” - “a transcendent, consuming banger” – ELLE Magazine.
An album deeply informed by the chaotic climate of modern life, Brittany draws an immense and indelible power from endless unpredictability. “With the world we’re living in now, it feels like we’re all just trying to hang onto our souls,” says the Nashville-based musician and frontwoman for four-time Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes. “Everything seems to be getting more extreme and everyone keeps wondering, ‘What now? What’s next?’ By the same coin, the only constant on this record is you never know what’s going to happen next: every song is its own aquarium, its own little miniature world built around whatever I was feeling and thinking at the time.”
Over the course of its 12 tracks, Howard brings her musicality to a shapeshifting sound, encompassing everything from psychedelia and dance music to dream-pop and avant-jazz—a fitting backdrop for an album whose lyrics shift from unbridled outpouring to incisive yet radically idealistic commentary on the state of the human condition. At turns galvanizing, cathartic, and wildly soul-expanding, the result is a monumental step forward for one of the most essential artists of our time.
“From song to song, the album approximates the emotional whiplash of falling in and out of love.”
– The New York Times
WHAT NOW follows massively acclaimed solo debut Jaime—a 2019 LP that earned her 7 Grammy® nominations in 4 different genres, winning the award for Best Rock Song with “Stay High.” The album also landed on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of Pitchfork, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and was named NPR’s album of the year. Like Jaime, What Now finds Howard taking the helm as producer and working closely with long-time collaborator Shawn Everett (Beck, The War on Drugs). Recorded at the legendary Sound Emporium and the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, the album emerged through a deliberately free-flowing process, with Howard doubling down on the unfettered creativity that’s long defined her work. “I don’t ever plan too deeply, but usually I show up with the songs almost fully formed,” she says. “With this record there was a lot of exploring sounds on the spot, and trusting that the right thing would come to us.”
“What Now is another side of Brittany Howard that makes each of her previous departures feel like a baby step by comparison” - Rolling Stone
Despite that highly exploratory approach, many of the songs on What Now unfold in intricate and hyper-inventive arrangements rooted in complex rhythmic patterns, achieved with the help of musicians like Paul Horton (keys), Lloyd Buchanan (keys), Brad Allen Williams (Guitar), drummer Nate Smith (Fearless Flyers, Vulfpeck, Paul Simon), and Alabama Shakes bassist Zac Cockrell. “All the sounds on this album are analog, all the drums are real drums,” Howard points out. “There’s so many different structures and tones happening within the songs that it ended up being a real monster to mix, but we figured it out. In a way it’s shocking to me how it all came together.”
In putting the finishing touches on What Now, Howard reached out to two friends from the Nashville Center For Alternative Therapy and recorded their performance on crystal singing bowls, then used those hypnotic tones as a transition between each song. “This record’s definitely meant to be listened to alone so you can really meditate with it,” she says. “At the end of the day I hope people use the album however they need to, but I do think the gift I bring is to help people to be more introspective and ask themselves questions. And I think with a little self-examination, we can learn to be kinder, more compassionate, more understanding of each other. We can see that a lot of us are going through the same shit, and we all just want to be seen for who we really are.”
TRACKLIST
- Earth Sign
- I Don’t
- What Now
- Red Flags
- To Be Still
- Interlude
- Another Day
- Prove It To You
- Samson
- Patience
- Power To Undo
- Every Color In Blue
BRITTANY HOWARD ON TOUR
Brittany was recently announced at this year’s Coachella and Bonnaroo festivals. Howard will also tour in 2024 across the US and Canada, and the UK. Her North American tour kicked off with a sold-out show in Chicago on February 6th and is continuing with sold-out stops in New York City, Boston, Toronto, and Washington D.C. with support from Becca Mancari. The tour will pick up again in April with support from June McDoom. Tickets available at www.brittanyhoward.com.
“There are few things in this world as captivating as watching Brittany Howard perform live.”
– Billboard
2024
Date City Venue
Feb. 6 Chicago, IL Thalia Hall (SOLD OUT)
7 Chicago, IL Thalia Hall (SOLD OUT)
9 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall
10 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall
12 Boston, MA The Wilbur (SOLD OUT)
16 New York, NY Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)
17 New York, NY Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)
20 Washington, DC 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)
21 Washington, DC 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)
23 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel (SOLD OUT)
24 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel (SOLD OUT)
Apr 12 Indio, CA Coachella
13 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
16 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore (SOLD OUT)
17 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
19 Indio, CA Coachella
22 Albuquerque, NM Revel Entertainment Center
23 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
24 Kansas City, MO The Truman
26 St Louis, MO The Pageant
28 Austin, TX Austin Blues Festival
June 14 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
July 2 London, UK KOKO
3 Lytham, UK Lytham Festival++
5 Dublin, IE Marlay Park++
6 Manchester, UK Albert Hall
7 London, UK London Finsbury Park++
9 Chepstow, UK Chepstow Summer Sessions++
10 Glasgow, UK Glasgow Green++
13 Bruges, BE Cactus Festival
*All February dates with support from Becca Mancari
*All April dates (outside of festivals) with support from June McDoom
++Dates with Hozier
ABOUT BRITTANY HOWARD:
Known for her unique timbre and powerful, soulful, emotionally charged vocals, Brittany Howard has been at the heart of the music scene for over a decade. She is a globally renowned singer, songwriter, and guitarist extraordinaire whose critical acclaim began with the release of Boys & Girls, the RIAA platinum Top 10 debut album by Alabama Shakes (2012). It included the career-defining RIAA gold single “Hold On,” a #1 Triple-AAA anthem that Rolling Stone named #1 Song of the Year. It was nominated for a Grammy® as Best Rock Performance and earned the band a Best New Artist nomination.
The second Alabama Shakes album (and final, before their hiatus), Sound & Color (2015) was another breakthrough, hitting #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, a rarity for an indie release. The Shakes performed “Don’t Wanna Fight” and “Gimme All Your Love” on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in advance of the release of the album; “Don’t Wanna Fight” took the awards for Best Rock Song (Brittany’s first songwriting Grammy®) and Best Rock Performance while Sound & Color won the Grammy® for Best Alternative Album.
In September 2019, Howard released her solo debut, Jaime, whose celebratory single, “Stay High,” hit #1 on the Triple-AAA chart while "History Repeats" subsequently received Grammy Award® nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. This brought Howard’s cumulative career total to 16 Grammy® nominations, and five wins. The album tracks "13th Century Metal" and "Stay High" were included on Pitchfork's list of the Best Songs of 2019. At the annual GLAAD Media Awards, Howard was nominated for Outstanding Music Artist. And at the Americana Music Honors & Awards, Howard was nominated for Artist of the Year, Jaime for Album of the Year, and "Stay High" for Song of the Year.
The Jaime (Reimagined) remix album (2021), contained "Stay High" (Childish Gambino remix, produced by Donald Glover and James Francies), “Stay High again.." (produced by Emmanuel Franklyn Adelabu, Joy Anonymous, and Fred again..), plus versions of Jaime tracks from Bon Iver, Common, Michael Kiwanuka, EARTHGANG, Little Dragon, and more.
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