Alabama Shakes sweep rock categories at Grammys
For a band that only a few years ago was pounding out Southern rock for hometown Alabama crowds, the Alabama Shakes stirred up a ruckus at the Grammys.
The band, co-founded by Brittany Howard, was nominated for the prestigious album of the year award for its captivating 2015 album “Sound and Color.” Though it lost to Taylor Swift’s “1989,” the band ran the table in the rock categories.
Beating the best
The Shakes beat out Grammy favorites Foo Fighters (as well as Florence and the Machine, Wolf Alice and Elle King) in the rock performance category, and carried away awards for rock song and alternative album. The band’s engineers on the album, Shawn Everett and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, won a trophy for engineered album, nonclassical, as well.
Though the Shakes have been nominated three times before, Monday’s trophies were their first.
“I never thought I’d be here doing this,” said Howard, receiving the award for rock performance on behalf of her bandmates standing behind her. “When we started this, we were in high school — me and our bass player right here — and we just did it for fun. We never thought we would get any awards or recognition like this. I tell you, my heart is beating a mile a minute right here.”
She then thanked members of the band’s team before adding, “It’s beautiful, and I promise that we’re going to keep going.”
Thrilling audiences
In fact, they’re going hard. A thrilling live band — as anyone who witnessed Monday’s performance of “Don’t Wanna Fight” can attest — the Shakes will be continuing to tour in support of “Sound & Color” throughout 2016.
In March, they’ll tour South America before returning to the states for a late spring tour of the South and a series of summer festival dates.