Brittany Howard Gets Real

Why she put Alabama Shakes on hold to make a wildly ambitious, fearlessly honest solo debut

- Patrick Doyle

Last year, Brittany Howard called a meeting with her bandmates and told them some news they probably didn’t want to hear. Alabama Shakes — who met in high school, broke through with 2012’s “Hold On” and went on to win four Grammys — would not be recording a follow-up to 2015’s Sound & Color anytime soon. Instead, Howard would be making a solo album. “It was like, ‘I’m going to do this record by myself,’ ” she says. “I knew that I needed to be in control of everything: the music, the arrangements, all that stuff. And when am I going to do it if not now?”

Howard’s solo debut, Jaime, is her most ambitious recording ever, full of synthed-out psychedelic funk, druggy soul ballads, hip-hop loops, and lyrics grappling with her past, including sexuality, family tragedy, religious guilt and more. It’s a powerful record: Howard recalls a recent listening party where “one lady cried. I’m used to hearing it, so I’m always surprised when people hear it and their general reaction is like, ‘Oh, boy.’ ”