Alabama Shakes Albums Ranked

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Alabama Shakes is an American blues rock band formed in Athens, Alabama in 2009. The band currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson. The group rose to prominence in the early 2010s with their distinctive and soulful roots rock sound. They have sold over 1.5 million albums in the US. The band began its career touring and performing at bars and clubs around the Southeast for two years while honing their sound and writing music. They recorded their debut album Boys & Girls with producer Andrija Tokic in Nashville while still unsigned. Online acclaim led ATO Records to sign the band, which released Boys & Girls in 2012 to critical success. The album’s hit single “Hold On” was nominated for three Grammy Awards. After a long touring cycle, the band recorded its second record Sound & Color, which was released in 2015 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and won four Grammy Awards. Here are all of Alabama Shakes albums ranked.

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2. Sound & Color (2015)

“The title track – “Sound & Color” – is the first song on the album, and it signals this is going to be a different kind of Alabama Shakes album. The song starts with a soulful vibraphone intro. Yes, a vibraphone. It ends with a string arrangement. Brittany Howard – the vocalist, songwriter, and overall powerhouse in the band – plays the vibraphone and arranged the strings. To me, she is like a cross between Etta James and Curtis Mayfield, with all the modern influences you might expect feeding into her songwriting. Howard has the range and emotion of James, plus the guitar and songwriting chops of Mayfield.”

1. Boys & Girls (2012)

“The album is great, not a bad song on it. All parts of a song, not just a good beat or catchy hook, are what makes really good music and Alabama Shakes definitely show their talent for building great music in this album. “I Found You” was an easy choice as my pick, and even easier to convince my newlywed wife, to use as our wedding song. Everything about the song encapsulated what we wanted to express about how we feel about each other.”