Brittany Howard has revealed how Alabama Shakes, the Grammy-winning blues-soul-rock band from Athens, Alabama, unexpectedly reunited after a seven-year hiatus, driven initially by a favour for a friend rather than any grand plan. The trio, who stopped performing in 2017 after becoming "physically and creatively spent" following huge global success, played a surprise fundraiser show in December 2024 that reignited their appetite to write, rehearse and tour together again. The comeback matters because it returns one of the most acclaimed American rock acts of the 2010s to the stage just as their new material, including the politically charged single American Dream, resonates strongly amid the turbulent state of the US.

The band's 2012 debut Boys & Girls reached the transatlantic Top 10, while 2015 follow-up Sound & Color topped the US chart and won four Grammys, earning fans including Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant and Barack Obama. Their reunion began with an intimate December 2024 gig at the 1,000-capacity Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, arranged to support a friend's struggling brewery, before snowballing into major tour dates. Released in April this year, the gospel-tinged American Dream tackles gun violence, the climate crisis, abortion rights, low wages and Donald Trump's White House renovations, going viral on TikTok and Instagram and putting Howard back at the centre of cultural conversation after a decade of solo work.