HT faves Alabama Shakes have just added a slew of North American headlining dates to their tour schedule. Their summer jaunt will begin on June 18 at LC Pavilion Outdoors in Columbus, Ohio and includes a two-night stand at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on July 17 and 18. The band will also visit The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York on June 23rd.

You can purchase tickets through a pre-sale that starts tomorrow, March 12 at noon ET / 9AM PT via Front Gate Tickets. General on-sales are set to take place on Friday and Saturday, the 15th and 16th. Alabama Shakes touring schedule also includes a number of festival appearances and trips abroad.

Here’s the full list of Alabama Shakes tour dates…

READ ON

Brittany Howard must have to pinch herself from time to time to make sure that she’s not dreaming. The Alabama Shakes have been on quite the hot streak of late – making their SNL debut, earning three Grammy nominations and they have a monster summer tour lined up. Next up for Howard will be her solo first release on Jack White’s Third Man Records label, which sees the Shakes front woman teaming up with Ruby Amanfu (White’s duet partner on Love Interruption from his solo album), for a very cool sounding Blue Series Single that will be released on March 12. The A-Side will feature a cover of HT fave Rodriguez’s I Wonder from his debut album Cold Fact, while the B Side will see the duo taking on Memphis Minnie’s When My Man Comes Home.

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Finally, while The Rolling Stones seemed to largely ignore their 50th anniversary in 2012, choosing to celebrate the milestone with a handful of anniversary shows on both sides of the pond instead of a major world tour, the band’s enduring influence and legacy will be the subject of a new exhibit opening at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this spring. Set to open on May 24, the comprehensive exhibit dubbed Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction will take up two-and-a-half floors of the museum. According to the LA Times some of the items that will be on display include “the black leather bomber jacket Keith Richards is wearing on the cover of the 1966 Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) compilation album; a 1970 letter from the Stones requesting Santana’s permission to include their performance in the concert film from Altamont that became ‘Gimme Shelter’ (Santana declined); Mick Jagger’s 1981 stage costume made from British and American flags; and a 1963 publishing agreement for ‘Stoned,’ one of the first songs the band members ever wrote.”

A little less than two years after Alabama Shakes burst onto the music landscape thanks to Brittany Howard’s impassioned vocals and the band’s hard-nosed blues-rock, the group made their Saturday Night Live debut last night. The Shakes first performed a powerful version of Hold On and then offered a groovy take on Always Alright from the Silver Linings Playbook soundtrack as their second song.

If you missed last night’s episode, we’ve got you covered…

[HD] Alabama Shakes – Hold On – SNL 2-16-13 by IdolxMuzic

[HD] Alabama Shakes – Always Alright – SNL 2-16-13 by IdolxMuzic

In a bit of shocking news, the Alabama Shakes have just announced that they will play a Rocks Off cruise on Thursday night. The band will perform in the cozy confines of the 250-capacity Destiny leaving from NYC’s Pier 81 at 8PM. In an effort to provide a fair way to sell tickets, you can enter a lottery for a chance to purchase two tickets. Head HERE and put in your name and details before 5PM ET today.

The Shakes, hot off their appearance at The Grammys, will be the musical guest on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Winners of the ticketing lottery will be contacted between 6 and 7PM tonight.

After the “who we lost” montage at last night’s Grammys detailing the many legendary musicians and music industry vets who passed away over the last 12 months, Mavis Staples, Mumford and Sons, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, Elton John, T-Bone Burnett and Zac Brown paid tribute to the last person listed in the montage, The Band drummer Levon Helm, by performing The Weight.

Elton introduced the tune and dedicated The Weight not only to the musicians we lost but also to the Sandy Hook school victims before handing it off to Zac Brown for the first verse. Mavis Staples, who made her presence felt not only throughout the whole cover, but also after it ended, handled the second verse. The Mumford Boys harmonized on the third verse, while Howard absolutely stole the show with the “wait a minute, Chester” verse followed by Elton singing the final verse of The Weight. All in all, it was a nice tribute to one of our heroes. If you missed it, here’s the vid…

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The February 16th episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live will feature a host and musical guest who both have never appeared on the show. Actor Christoph Waltz of Django Unchained fame will host, while HT faves Alabama Shakes will make their SNL debut as musical guest.

This marks yet another milestone for the Shakes, who just about two years ago were completely unknown. Now, they are up for the Best New Artist award at this year’s Grammys.

All week long we’ve been counting down our staff’s picks for the best albums of 2012. Today, on one of the last workdays of the year, we reveal the top of our list.

When Hidden Track was started in 2006 there were plenty of sites dedicated to indie rock and a slew of sites devoted to improvisational and classic rock bands, but few blogs (and bands for that matter) bridged the gap between the forms. That’s where we came in and five years later the results of our list shows that’s still where our staff’s interests lie.

Thanks for following along all week. We now present our Top 5 Albums of 2012…

5) Dr. John – Locked Down

Key Tracks: Locked Down, Ice Age, Eleggua… aw heck, they’re all amazing.

Sounds Like: Dan Auerbach as Marty McFly, Dr John as Marvin Berry; a time-traveling Delorean and one funky-as-hell Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

The Skinny: If you had a time machine, would you go back to save the world from some certain evil? Would you ensure yourself riches beyond your wildest imagination? Or would you use it to get down to history’s greatest musicians in their prime? Dan Auerbach may very well have a time machine because the Dr. John he’s produced on Locked Down is a revelation of past greatness in the here and now. The album is a swampy, dark Dr. John voodoo funk with Auerbach’s greasy fingerprints all over it, an embarrassment of musical riches, each track its own adventure. As throwback as it sounds, what’s remarkable is how modern and relevant it feels – time machine or not, Dr John & Dan Auerbach have delivered an album for the ages.

- Aaron Stein

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4) Father John Misty – Fear Fun

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The Alabama Shakes are in the midst of a three-week Fall Tour that will end in Mexico City on October 14th. The roots-rock band are still promoting their stellar debut album Boys & Girls and have just unveiled the video for the B&G’s track I Ain’t The Same. This clip was recorded at Ray Davies’ Konk Studios, which The Kinks’ frontman runs in London, and was directed by Jane Pollard.

Alabama Shakes – I Ain’t The Same

[via Pitchfork]

 Lollapalooza 2012 starts on Friday at Chicago’s Grant Park. We’re sending our friend Jimmy Coulas of Scents and Subtle Sounds to cover the three-day fest for us and he’s prepared a list of five can’t miss bands set to perform at this weekend’s event.

1. Black Sabbath

When: Friday 8:05 – 10PM
Where: Bud Light Stage

Heavy metal legends Black Sabbath will help close out the first night of Lollapalooza with their third and final gig of 2012. It’s been a tumultuous year for the reunited band as guitarist Tony Iommi battled Lymphoma and drummer Bill Ward declined to participate in the reunion. However, the band is marching on and according to Ozzy Osbourne, they are working on new material. While we might hear some of that new material, Ozzy and company will likely deliver a career spanning set that will undoubtedly draw a crowd of all ages.

READ ON

Alabama Shakes  / Diamond Rugs @ Central Park SummerStage, June 24

Words: Carla Danca
Photos: Jeremy Gordon

On a New York Sunday filled with music, Central Park’s SummerStage went quite a different direction than that of nearby Governor’s Ball and instead of going with DJs and electronic music focused their “Sold Out”  free event on two young rock bands.

[All Photos by Jeremy Gordon]

The opening act – Diamond Rugs – are a true supergroup of well-known indie/rock musicians drawn from bands that on the surface are very different (but love to drink beer). Unlike so many other side projects, this band was an impressive force much greater than the sum of its parts.  While each band member brings his own sound, the mix is pleasing and familiar, in a good way. This band is definitely a bit quirky with their own style and irreverence for the calendar as they closed the set with a tune about Christmas that left a few eyebrows raised.

It might seem like yesterday that the Alabama Shakes burst onto the scene as the most talked about band at CMJ. In less than a year, the band has quickly moved up to headlining Central Park’s SummerStage.  To those unfamiliar with the band, it quickly becomes apparent why Jack White has taken this band under his wing by touring with the quartet and producing their material. As someone who is no stranger to reviving a retro sound, the Alabama Shakes are the perfect accompaniment to his baby blue and nostalgia-tinged prom band. The Shakes quick growth reminds us that good old fashioned rock and roll will never die. As a powerful band that punctuates the oft-sung-about troubles of love, you can see how they started out covering the classics of rock. All the while, front woman Brittany Howard gives off the air of someone with many more years of heartbreak and hurt under her belt.

READ ON

HT faves and buzz band of the year Alabama Shakes made their Fallon debut last night, when they visited Late Night to perform Be Mine from their sensational debut album Boys and Girls. Take a look…

Alabama Shakes – Be Mine (Live on Fallon)

[via The Audio Perv]

In one hell of an amazing pairing, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will play a pair of shows at Red Rocks with the Alabama Shakes signed on as the opening act. The gigs will take place on August 5 and 6 at the iconic venue in Morrison, Colo.

The Shakes announced the shows on their Facebook page…

A true dream come true. we will have the honor of opening for our hero Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO on August 5 and 6. Wowzers. Playing with Neil Young at one of the best venues in the world! Holy Cow!

As of press time, these are the only shows scheduled for the newly reunited Neil Young and Crazy Horse besides a headlining slot at Outside Lands later in August. Tickets for the Red Rocks gigs go on sale this Friday at 10AM MDT.

[Hat Tip - J. Condon]

HT faves Alabama Shakes continue to climb through the ranks of the music industry as today the band has announced a summer headlining tour that kicks off on July 29 at Paper Mill near Syracuse, New York and runs through a August 16th date at the House of Blues in San Diego. The headlining run is in addition to the group’s just announced June 24th show at Central Park SummerStage. Head to the Alabama Shakes website for the full list of dates and keep your eyes out for additional performances to be added.

[Photo by Autumn De Wilde]

If you’re not into a night with Alabama Shakes, then maybe you’ll be interested in hitting one of these recently announced tours…

• Emmylou Harris: Summer Tour (5/11 – 8/12)
• Puscifer: U.S. Summer Tour (6/9 – 6/30)
• O’Death: Spring Tour (5/5 – 6/10)
• Mickey Hart Band: Spring -> Summer Tour (5/7 – 7/28)
• Kurt Vile & The Violators: Spring Tour (5/17 – 6/16)
• Donovan Frankenreiter: World Tour (5/19 – 8/12)
• Identity Festival: Touring Electronica Festival (7/19 – 8/19)

Each time the Alabama Shakes come back to New York City, there’s more of a spotlight put on the worth the buzz band. This time around the group is in town for a pair of shows at Bowery Presents venues as well as an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman and a MTV Hive webcast. At this rate of growth, it’s only a matter of time until the Shakes headline Madison Square Garden.

If you missed Brittany Howard and the band’s fantastic version of Hold On from last night’s episode of The Late Show, we’ve got you covered…

Alabama Shakes – Hold On

We also came across a rip of the MTV Hive webcast from Tuesday night…

Alabama Shakes – MTV Hive Webcast

OK, we’re admittedly a few days late on this, but earlier this week the internet was abuzz as the Alabama Shakes stopped by TBS’s Conan to make their late-night debut. The band, which you’re going to be hearing about a lot in the coming weeks and months, will release their debut album Boys & Girls on April 10 via ATO Records. Fronted by the charismatic and booming voiced Brittany Howard, the Shakes play a fiery blend of vintage Southern soul that sounds something like Janis Joplin meets Aretha Franklin as backed by Booker T. & MG’s and the Allman Brothers. The band performed a pair of songs for Conan, let’s check out their web exclusive – I Ain’t The Same…