(Credits: Far Out / Press)
Sun 31 August 2025 6:00, UK
Brittany Howard is one of the most respected musicians in the current landscape.
In the past few years, she’s earned her name as part of one of the best bands to emerge in rock, and earned her keep alongside names like Miley Cyrus, Childish Gambino, Paul McCartney and more. And that’s not to even mention the comparisons she’s earned to people like Bob Dylan and The Stones.
But Howard isn’t just respected because she’s great. It would take a long while to go into all the reasons she is, anyway. But that aside, she’s also respected because she’s the perfect embodiment of grace, of something that teeters on the edge of strange, quirky, and with a musical talent that’s so raw in every single setting she finds herself in.
There’s always a messy honesty that comes with everything she’s a part of. Like when she performed alongside Cyrus on SNL to pay homage to Sinéad O’Connor. Their rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ was a little strange to watch, bordering on uncomfortable, but in a way where you just can’t tear your eyes away. Here are two completely unmatched talents, both completely different in how they evoke emotion, and yet entirely perfect beside each other.
That’s the thing with Howard. No matter whether she’s performing alone, with Alabama Shakes, or another esteemed name, she makes it work. But she doesn’t change to fit their mould, she stands confidently with everything she has to offer, and it works even when it doesn’t. It works because there’s always something so off-kilter about it, like she doesn’t care if it sounds weird, or if something seems a bit unconventional. That’s what pulls us in. The fact she’s never dressing up in anyone else’s clothing just to satiate the eyes of entitled audiences.
One of the best examples of this is when she got pulled on stage beside Paul McCartney in 2015 at Lollapalooza to perform The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’. “She’s gonna help us rock ‘n’ roll,” McCartney enthused as she took to the stage, before they both launched into an energetic version of the song that felt like a groove-filled, almost heaty exchange between the two. The best thing about it was that it wasn’t entirely perfect; just two musicians performing because they absolutely love to, and everybody had fun because they were having fun, too.
But that’s not the only reason why they worked so easily beside each other. They’d already recognised the humble qualities in each other offstage, and so when they were finally before a live audience, they didn’t have to think all that much. They just did it. Howard even regarded McCartney as just your everyday guy, an easy accompaniment despite the explosive nature of his past. Despite being in one of the biggest bands in the history of the world.
So much so that she felt completely relaxed with him, and yet entirely starstruck with Prince, whom she also collaborated with around the same time. As she later reflected, “He’s just a guy that was in a really good band. He’s like super nice and down to earth and good at making you forget he’s a Beatle…I was barely hanging on with Prince.”
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