<\/p>\n
Is the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d dead?<\/p>\n
Alabama Shakes<\/a>\u2019 new track is a simmering protest song that asks hard questions.<\/p>\n The Athens, Alabama-founded<\/a> band\u2018s single \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d evokes the disenfranchised dirge heard on 1987 Prince gem \u201cSign \u2018o the Times.\u201d<\/p>\n Prince\u2019s lyrics on that classic scanned social commentary and anti-war. Alabama Shakes lean into politics on \u201cAmerican Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Over a menacing and sinewy jazz groove, Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard<\/a> delivers expressive vocals doused in echo.<\/p>\n Howard sings lines like, \u201cI thought we wanted the same things. Peace. Love. Happiness. Opportunity. Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n And, \u201cWhat are we doing? Out of reach. Double speak. Got the White House pretty and pimped out.\u201d<\/p>\n Other lyrics mention gun reform, abortion rights, the E.P.A (or Environmental Protection Agency) and low wages.<\/p>\n \u201cHow many people got shot this week?,\u201d Howard sings. \u201cIt\u2019s enough to make you wanna go back to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n A call and response between Howard and background vocals pronounce \u201cthe American Dream\u201d the \u201cimpossible dream.\u201d To close out the song, the refrain \u201ckeep dreaming\u201d is repeated for about a minute.<\/p>\n In a statement, Howard says of \u201cAmerican Dream,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a snapshot of what we\u2019re living through in 2026. I look around and wonder how we got to a place where there\u2019s so much strain and so little support. I mean, it shouldn\u2019t be impossible to take off work so you can bring your child to the doctor \u2014 that\u2019s actually insane. My hope is that one day people will hear this song and say, \u2018Yeah, s— was crazy back then, but we made it through.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d is the second new song Alabama Shakes have released since reforming. The band released \u201cAnother Life,\u201d their first original release in a decade<\/a>, last year.<\/p>\n Alabama Shakes\u2019 signature songs include \u201cHold On,\u201d \u201cAlways Alright\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t\u2019 Wanna Fight.\u201d<\/p>\n The Grammy winning rock band\u2019s 2026 tour launches April 16 in Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n On June 12, the Shakes will play a home state show at Tuscaloosa\u2019s Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater<\/a>.<\/p>\n Muscle Shoals founded sibling duo Secret Sisters<\/a> will open the Tuscaloosa show. Alabama acts Billy Allen + The Pollies<\/a> and Lamont Landers<\/a> are also among openers on Alabama Shakes\u2019 tour.<\/p>\n In 2025, Howard, who embarked on an acclaimed solo career in 2019, and bassist Zac Cockrell, who\u2019d been part of Howard\u2019s solo band, teamed with Shakes guitarist Heath Fogg<\/a> for a reunion tour<\/a> of amphitheaters.<\/p>\n The Shakes\u2019 original drummer Steve Johnson was left out of the lucrative tour, telling AL.com he\u2019d been ousted from the band due to legal issues he had during the band\u2019s hiatus<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a joint statement to AL.com at the time, the band said in 2021 meeting with Johnson \u201cwe made it clear that we would be parting ways. We wish him all the best.\u201d<\/p>\n Before their reunion tour, the Shakes played an intimate 2024 set<\/a> as part of a fundraising concert at Tuscaloosa\u2019s Bama Theatre.<\/p>\n Alabama Shakes\u2019 touring lineup includes longtime auxiliary musician Ben Tanner<\/a>. Drummers have included Lewis Wright and Noah Bond. Background vocals and a second keyboardist have also been part of the ensemble.<\/p>\n Alabama Shakes released two studio albums during their original run, 2012 debut \u201cBoys & Girls\u201d and 2015\u2019s \u201cSound & Color.\u201d<\/p>\n Both albums were commercially and critically successful. The band became a favorite live attraction at major music festivals and performed on TV\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the original article on al.com<\/a>. Add al.com<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d dead? Alabama Shakes\u2019 new track is a simmering protest song that asks hard questions. The Athens, Alabama-founded band\u2018s single \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d evokes the disenfranchised dirge heard on 1987 Prince gem \u201cSign \u2018o the Times.\u201d Prince\u2019s lyrics on that classic scanned social commentary and anti-war. Alabama Shakes lean into politics on \u201cAmerican […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2369879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[357667,383101,353323,460723],"class_list":["post-2369878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-alabama-shakes","tag-american-dream","tag-brittany-howard","tag-environmental-protection-agency"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Iconic-Alabama-bands-new-song-protests-\u2018pimped-out-White-House.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2369880,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369878\/revisions\/2369880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2369879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}