rDay Two-Hundred-Ninety-One: Brittany Howard and Distractions

Started off the day with the intention to work on bookkeeping and income tax matters. But instead I found myself compelled to listen to some of my favorite current music, starting off with “The Chopin Project” (Olafur Arnaldus), then on to “I Love You Honeybear” (Father John Misty), “The Epic” (Kamasi Washington), “No Cities to Love” (Sleater-Kinney), but spending all most the entire day with the Sound & Color (Alabama Shakes) … and chasing down everything I could hear by Alabama Shakes’ frontwoman, Brittany Howard. Right now, she is the singer I most love in any genre I can think of, and may be the most expressive. Of course, the Sound & Color album made my customary annual favorites list for 2015 — usually compiled at year’s end with the help of Ivi and sometimes some input from Nik — and Ivi was overhead singing “Don’t Wanna Fight” during family games over the recent holidays.

I usually reserve this kind of commentary for my music blog, but Brittany is taking over my life at the moment, so here goes.

First up is Alabama Shakes at Montreux:

Then an earlier appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival (including one of my favorites, “The Greatest” at about 19:00 in):

Speaking of “The Greatest”, I have been looking for a good quality performance on the Greater Interwebs, but this poor audio & video version on YouTube will have to suffice for now, as the energy of Brittany and the band come through anyway:

Finally, I got Kim to sit down with me for a viewing of the Shakes’ visit to Austin City Limits, and now she may be hooked as well:

Just don’t ask me to watch Downton Abbey after this …