If you could travel back in time to 2012 and listen to “Hold On,” the breakthrough single from Brittany Howard’s band Alabama Shakes for the first time, you might still be bowled over by the power of the singer’s vocal talent, or the magnetically laid-back groove emanating from the speakers, or Howard’s obvious, sparkling star quality. But would you peg her as an inevitable solo artist who would soon be one of rock and soul’s most restless and ambitious talents?
A dozen years later, the answer is irrefutable. On this week’s episode of New Music Friday, Ann Powers and Sheldon Pearce dig into Howard’s brand new — and, yes, masterful — album, What Now. Listening to it alongside other records also out on Feb. 9, 2024 — Joel Ross’s nublues and Kali Malone’s All Life Long — they find themselves wondering about the various forms of musical virtuosity to be found in 2024, and whether we, as listeners, still place a high enough value on that particular quality.
