A Grammy-winning powerhouse with a Southern gothic back story, Brittany Howard put Alabama Shakes on ice to blaze her own genre-bending trail. Ahead of the release of her second solo album What Now next month, she talks to MOJO’s Bill DeMain about her childhood in Alabama, the seismic impact the death of her sister had on her and how she very nearly made a record with Prince…
You grew up in Athens, Alabama, where your family lived in a junkyard. What was that like?
We had this beautiful property back off the road, on a hill, like a field with pine trees and a creek. My dad is a used car salesman, so the perimeter of it became a junkyard. There were cars stacked on top of cars, random parts, radiators, wheels, you name it. On the inside, it was like a farm. We had geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, goats and a pig called Nugget. It was a super fun way to grow up.
Did small-town Southern attitudes make it difficult for you, as a child of biracial parents, who as you’ve said, “didn’t look like the popular girls”?
Yeah, but I was a happy kid. At least until my sister got sick. She had retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye. She was 13 when she passed, and there was like a big rain cloud that just came over our family, and wasn’t removed for a very long time. My parents dealt with their grief as best they could, but that kind of left me out. So I was a lonely kid, for sure. And I feel like that’s what led me to music, because I created my own world on my own terms. Nobody told me how to do it or where I was going. It was something I could control.
You began teaching yourself guitar at age 11?
There was no money for lessons. My sister had a guitar that she’d played – a big heavy Les Paul rip-off. I don’t know where it came from. I started learning on that, then started learning keys, bass, and drums. I really wanted a band and knew that the kids in school were either too old to be in a band with me, or too established. So I needed to learn all the instruments so I could teach kids my age how to play.
Around that time you saw a local group perform. Was that a turning point?
At my school, East Limestone High, we had this old gym with a stage. Some of the kids organised a concert. Their band was called Stone Phillips. Heath [Fogg], who was later in The Shakes, was playing this gold Les Paul, and it blew my mind. They were doing popular songs. Kids were dancing and singing along. I remember I stopped dancing and it’s all just computing in my brain. I’m like, Oh my God, this is what I want to do! From the very next day, that’s all I thought about, and for the following rest of my life, that’s all I’ve thought about.
In 2015, right after the release of Alabama Shakes' second album Sound & Color, you jammed on-stage with Prince at Paisley Park. What was that like?
We walk into Paisley Park, this big warehouse, and they’re showing the film Madagascar, projected on the walls. We’re like, Hmm, OK… There were some rules. No meat, no cussing, no video. It was all a little strange. We did a soundcheck, then his assistant said, “Prince would like to meet you.” I said, “C’mon, y’all! Because I’m not going by myself!” There were 15 of us in this little studio. Prince is sitting there, wearing all linen. We all smoosh ourselves onto this couch and he was so nice, and really funny. He said, “I’d like to play Gimme All Your Love with you tonight.”
So later, we’re on-stage playing our set, we get to the song, and Prince is not showing up. I’m like, “Did he change his mind? Are we not doing a good job?” We keep repeating the bridge. It’s getting a little awkward. All of a sudden, this guy in a green crushed-velvet suit, with an Afro, sunglasses and a green guitar jumps onto the stage from below. And the stage is at least six-feet tall. Vooomp! He’s right there, and just starts shredding. I’m looking at him in utter disbelief. The crowd’s going crazy. And then we were double soloing, in harmony. We go for about five minutes, finish, he kisses me on the cheek, and he leaps into the darkness and I never saw him again. Literally, he just disappeared, like a fairy would!
And didn’t he want to collaborate on a song with you?
He called me, and he had a super-deep voice (imitating Prince), “Did you have a good time tonight?” “Yes, it was amazing, thank you so much, Prince.” “All right, check your e-mail, we should work together.” So I checked every e-mail account I had – Gmail, Yahoo, AOL – every single day, and I never heard from him. And the next thing I know, he’d passed away.
Around that time, you played Get Back with Paul McCartney at Lollapalooza…
Growing up, I thought of The Beatles the same way I did classical music. And you kind of take it for granted. Obviously, they’re incredible. But I didn’t have a Beatles phase. So when I met Paul, I wasn’t freaking out. He’s such a lovely person, and so good at disarming people, I feel like I learned a lot from him in that small amount of time on how to be a known musician. When we went on stage, the thing that was in my head was, Don’t fuck this up, because there’s 80,000 people out there who can play this song. It’s funny though, when I started to play the solo, so did his guitarist Rusty. And I’m like, Hey, wait, I got it, I got it! Oh, OK, I guess it’s a double solo.
When you finally decided to take a hiatus from Alabama Shakes, what was that meeting like?
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. There were a lot of emotions. Our lives changed together. That doesn’t happen often. And it’s not lost on me. I’m so grateful for everything I learned from them. I feel like The Shakes blessed everybody in a different way.
Will you ever reunite?
I don’t want to talk about it like it’s over. This is where we are for now.
Zac is still with you on your solo albums. Do you stay in touch with Heath and Steve?
Our relationship has always been kind of peripheral. We check in on birthdays and holidays. And every Father’s Day, I get in touch, because they’re both great fathers and they love their kids so much. I want to celebrate that.
“Soul bands party hardest!” read the full interview with Brittany Howard only in the latest issue of MOJO, on sale now. More info and to order a copy HERE!
