Alabama Shakes
We welcome Alabama Shakes as the first act to be announced for The Great Escape 2015.
The quartet formed in 2009 in Athens Alabama, and has been going strong ever since. The Alabama Shakes were named best band of 2011 by NPR, while MTV called them one of the top bands to look for in 2012 and they received three nominations for the 2013 Grammy Awards, one of them for their debut album Boys & Girls.
From the heart-rending title song ‘Hold On’ to such stomps as ‘Rise to the Sun’ the debut album demonstrates the sense of groove and space the band learned from their idols. Although the release of Boys & Girls marks the arrival of a major new Rock and Roll band, to the members themselves, what’s been most exciting has been the reaction they have felt on stage.
In 2015 the time has come for this band described as ‘thunderbolt dressed in blue jeans’ to rock out at Bluesfest and draw in the audience with their magnetic stage presence and music that’s aching when it’s slow and growling and whooping when it’s fast.
