“All these insane rhythms”: Brittany Howard’s favourite Led Zeppelin album
Brittany Howard might have helped to soundtrack most of the 2010s as part of Alabama Shakes, but she was always destined to be a lone wolf. Alabama Shakes thrives because of her input, but as a solo artist, the world opened up tenfold. In a way, this makes her the ultimate ‘It’ girl, but not in the strangely abhorrent Hollywood way.
To Howard, being the ‘It’ girl means connecting with the ultimate sense of self and trusting everything you have to offer. As she put it during an interview with The Cut, “An ‘It’ girl is somebody who is themself, proud of themself, carries themself that way, and treats other people with kindness and goes about their business with — confidence, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.”
Growing up in Alabama and living in Nashville meant that her particular brand of ‘It’ girl came with a subset of specific inspirations, many of which filtered into her sound; others transitioned into an internal sense of pride about knowing who you are and what you want. “I’m inspired by a lot of things that happen inside of me,” she explained, noting how emotion and feeling are more significant drivers than anything external.
For this reason, many of Howard’s music masters genre-blending techniques, drawing from rock, folk, soul, gospel, roots rock, and blues. Her latest album, What Now, incorporated many of these sensibilities while leaning more into her psychedelic, funk, and jazz interests, proving that, no matter how far the singer stretches the elastic band, her grounding will always be intact.
In the beginning, Alabama Shakes also proved their versatility by covering numerous popular hits, including songs by Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Otis Reading, and AC/DC. Led Zeppelin, in particular, became a hallmark of genre-blending and had a significant influence on Howard’s work, not just within the Alabama outfit but in her own sound.
Discussing Led Zeppelin III during an episode of What’s In My Bag?, Howard explained the reason behind her appreciation for the band and that record in particular. “I love this album, this is probably my favourite Led Zeppelin album, really, because of the genre mixing. [It has] one of my favourite songs, ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’, but I also really love ‘Gallows Pole’.”
Discussing the brilliance at the core of ‘Gallows Pole’, she added: “[It] has probably every rhythm you could possibly fit into a song. It starts off so simple and you think you know what it is, kind of blues, then it ends up being kind of Celtic, then ends up with all these insane rhythms. This whole album has so much different genre on it. Once I heard it, it was just really inspiring to me and to what I do.”
As one of the most musically significant ‘It’ girls, Howard might be in a slightly different arena than the Zep, but the “uniqueness” she touches upon and her ability to capture various genres in one place her among the same categories of greatness. Genre-blending doesn’t just mean lumping together various musical aspects and hoping it works; it takes self-belief and skill, and Howard possesses both.
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