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Brittany Howard Releases “Stay High” from Debut Solo Album, Jaime


July 16, 2019
Written by
Cynthia Schemmer
Written by
Cynthia Schemmer
Photos
Courtesy of Artist

Today, Brittany Howard gifted us with another new single and video from her forthcoming solo release, Jaime, due out September 20th on ATO Records.

On her website, the Alabama Shakes singer, Brittany Howard, and guitarist states that the debut solo album, Jaime, is named after her sister, who died when she was only a teenager. She goes on to say that the songs are mostly about herself, the things she’s seen traveling across the US, and the need to help others feel seen and understood: 

Resisting that annoying voice that exists in all of our heads that says we aren’t good enough, talented enough, beautiful enough, thin enough, rich enough or successful enough. The voice that amplifies when we turn on our TVs or scroll on our phones. 

It’s empowering to me to see someone be unapologetically themselves when they don’t fit within those images. That’s what I want for myself next and that’s why I share with you, “Jaime”.

The second single from the album, “Stay High,” features NFL player and current Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor, Terry Crews, singing along to Howard’s soulful, mid tempo arrangement that embodies where she comes from (the video is set in her hometown of Athens, Alabama) the work vs. play state of mind, and “staying high” through it all. “Terry Crews plays a man who isn’t out to change the world, he plays a man who just wants to come home to those who understand and love him best,” states Howard in a press release. “We see his inner beauty, grace and humanity in a place that is so often misunderstood.”

In 2016, we interviewed Howard as our Issue 11 cover artist, where she spoke to her beginnings with the guitar, including the influence of her sister, who was also a musician:

Well, the music first started with my Uncle Chad, my mom’s brother. He played guitar, he played Guns N’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix—he was really good at it. But I never thought girls could play guitar—I had never seen [a girl] play guitar ever in my life until the fifth grade when we had a music teacher, Ms. Mosely. She played guitar, she just busted out some “Blackbird” and I was just like [makes surprised face], “I want to do that.” 

Then the next year I saw my first live band play which just happened to be our guitar player Heath [Fogg]’s band. He was 15 and I was 11 and I saw him play in the old gymnasium. That’s where it started. My sister used to play piano and she was really proficient at playing by ear and she would teach me how to play. 

For more information on Jamie and Howard’s upcoming tour dates, visit her website

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