Last Wednesday night, it seemed as if Green Bar in Tuscaloosa was approaching fire code capacity. The building, which is legally maxed out at 150 people, hosted Alabama Shakes, a band from Athens, Ala.
“I had a feeling that just maybe we’d see a few familiar faces, considering we came through with the Drive-By Truckers at the Bama Theater, but I didn’t expect so many,” said Brittany Howard, lead vocalist of Alabama Shakes.
It was the Drive-By Truckers show that helped develop a sudden influx of attention towards the group.
“It felt unreal,” Howard said. “We’re all fans of the Truckers and have been listening to them for a few years. So when Patterson asked us to do a few dates, well, it was shocking and an honor all at once. Also, we love them as people. Great bunch, those Truckers. Miss them already.”
The Shakes’ sound is a culmination of Howard’s powerful voice mixed in with a southern rock vibe, as well as the work of guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell and drummer Steve Johnson. It’s a merging of the Tennessee flair of Aretha Franklin and the 1970s-style aesthetic of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Nothing the Shakes do is “new” per se, but the energy of their work particularly stands out.
“We evolve every time we sit down to have a song,” Howard said. “The chemistry is with each other, and sometimes it is very instant; Heath, Zach and Steve know where I’m going with something, and they feel it too. Feel is everything.”
While their performance at Green Bar was amazing and certainly deserves to be lauded (after all, I’m talking about it in a newspaper), I left with more general thought about the southern hipster. While nothing about the Shakes’ music is overly “hip,” for lack of a better term, it is made aware to those audiences by a hip source. In this case, it’s Patterson Hood. Hood is to southern hipsters what Pitchfork is to the Northeast, and there is no denying that.
This fascinates me, because we’re told that music as a shared cultural experience is more democratic than ever, but great bands often go unattended simply because the right person hasn’t heard it yet. It was once a theory for their struggling bands searching for a major label and never finding what they want, but with the major label system beyond repair, the Internet has only continued the principle to a select group of tastemakers. And it’s not too far off to say that Hood is the top name in invoking that feeling.
And this isn’t an attempt to damn the process, just state it aloud, especially when the attitude that follows is one of the “catch them now before they never play here again” persuasion. With this in mind, the Alabama Shakes do live up to the hype, which I hope only swells while still playing in Tuscaloosa.
“I can’t wait to let [Tuscaloosa] hear what’s next,” Howard said. “It’s kind of killing me. We will see you, Tuscaloosa, Oct. 14 at Egan’s on University Boulevard. I have expectations for all of you now; you’ve spoiled me! I expect you to at least know the Matador at this point. We’ll see. Better dance like something.”
