Alabama Shakes
Boys & Girls

Brother: “Hey, what is it?”

Me: “What is what?”

Brother: “Listen here, I think they released a posthumous album of Janis Joplin.”

Me: “Oh really? Cool.”

…

Brother: “No no, it's not Janis, this one is chocolatina,”

My “encounter” with Brittany Howard happened in 2012, the year of the debut album by the “Alabama Shakes,” and I was struck by the stage presence and vocal power of the singer and guitarist from Athens.

I was eager to buy the album, “Boys and Girls,” immediately, but my trusted dealer couldn't order it, and I had to wait three to four months to get reassuring news about it.

It ranks first among the CDs to play in the car during my daily commutes, and “Hold On” constantly becomes my first track for a good day.

My encounter with Brittany Howard happened in 2015, the year they opened for Paolo Nutini at the Lucca Summer Festival, and I could barely hold back my tears after a proverbial performance of “Be Mine,” one of the most touching live performances in my entire life as a listener.

“Boys and Girls” is an album successful in all its tracks. The ingredients are the instrumental sound of the South and Howard's powerful voice, akin to jubilee, which creates a blues rock that mentally transports you to the '60s-'70s. Besides the aforementioned frontwoman, the band also consists of Zac Cockrell (bass), Heath Fogg (guitar and backing vocals), Steve Johnson (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Ben Tanner/Paul Horton (keyboards).

Debut album, first track, how to start? “Hold On,” hang in there, resist! The first thing (sung) is “Bless my heart, Bless my soul, Didn't think I'd make it to twenty-two years old. There must be someone up above saying <Come on Brittany you got to come on up> / Bless my heart, bless my soul, I never thought I'd reach 22 years old. There must be someone up there saying <come on Brittany, you have to hurry up>”.

For me, it takes great courage to start an album like that. As unknowns.

It continues with the danceable “I Found You” (there's something that even reminds me of the “Beach Boys”) and “Hang Loose,” moves through the dreamy “Rise to the Sun,” with a harmonic piano provided by a Farfisa organ, very mellow, very seventies, and guitar interventions between arpeggiated/stopped and clean strumming, to arrive at my favorite track “You Ain't Alone” (to which I attach a live video from 2011) where goosebumps even reach the earlobes.

Brittany's voice is something immensely communicative and exciting: “You ain't alone, so why are you lonely? / You are not alone, so why are you lonely?” and again “Are you scared what somebody gonna think? Are you scared to wear your heart out on your sleeve? Are you scared of me? … Cause I'm scared that love gonna take me away, But I really don't know what I got to say / Are you afraid of what someone will think? Are you afraid to show your feelings? Are you afraid of me? … Because I'm afraid love will take me away, but I really don't know what to say”. A golden voice that pours all its emotion into the music.

Minimalist is the interlude of “Going to the Party” which precedes three very important tracks: the vibrant and tormented “Heartbreaker,” the soulful album track “Boys and Girls,” and “Be Mine,” where the precise falsetto and raw anger with which she addresses her man alternate “So be mine, So be my baby, Just say alright, Forever and alright / So, be mine, so, be my baby, just say okay, forever and alright” in the finale. All very convincing.

The bomb of “I Ain't the Same” precedes the closing track “On Your Way” that whispers a “see you again.” Riff on the low strings of the guitar in the musical score, insistent drums, and guitar embellishments that viscously interlock with the hoarse voice of the lead singer.

A stunning debut.

And no, it's not Janis Joplin. It's Brittany Howard. Long live the "Alabama Shakes."