Alabama Shakes

I absolutely adore this band and can't wait for them to come to Friday Cheers here in Richmond this summer. In case you are new to the Alabama Shakes I'll give you a short background on the band.

The actual band was originally formed when lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard approached bassist Zac Cockrell during high school psychology class and after than began meeting after school to write songs. Bang. See kids its just that easy!

The two experiemented in many different styles of music including roots rock, progressive rock, soul music, country music and classic rock. Later the duo approached drummer Steve Johnson (who was working at a music store) to join the band and he agreed. The trio went on the Decatur, Alabama and ended up recording some of the songs they were working on. Finally guitarist Heath Fogg joined the band after asking the group to open for his band, to which they smartly agreed on the grounds that Fogg play with them. They started reworking cover songs by Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Otis Redding and AC/DC to fill the "one show only" 45 minute set. Now called "The Shakes" they were so well received, they decided to continue playing together and Fogg became their full time guitarist. They finally settled on the name "The Alabama Shakes". 

They released their first four song EP in September 2011 which gained widespread media attention. They started touring again and ended up on many "Artist to Watch Lists". Recently Jack White tapped them to launch a series of singles for Third Man Records. They are also signed to ATO Records here in the US. 

The bands first full length album, Boys and Girls, was made available on April 1st, 2012.

Take a look at their SXSW performance below. (Thanks NPR!)