New York, NY (Top40 Charts) ATO Records will commemorate the 10th anniversary of
Alabama Shakes' internationally acclaimed debut album, Boys & Girls, with a two-disc deluxe edition, set for December 9 release.
Hailed as one of the best albums of 2012 by Rolling Stone and numerous other publications, Boys & Girls entered Billboard's Independent Albums chart at No. 1. It went on to attain Platinum certification and earn the band multiple GRAMMY nominations. Lead single "
Hold On" was voted the #1 Best Song of 2012 by Rolling Stone.
Repackaged in a foil-board gatefold jacket with new, unreleased photos, Boys & Girls 10 Year Anniversary
Deluxe Edition contains the album's original 11 songs plus an additional 11 tracks from the band's explosive live performance on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic," which aired in the months leading up to the album's release.
Alabama Shakes - comprising singer/guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson - recorded Boys & Girls in Nashville, funding the sessions with their day jobs ((Howard worked as a mail carrier, while Johnson served as a night watchman at a nuclear power plant) and nighttime gigs, playing
James Brown and
AC/DC covers in dive bars.
Soon after the arrival of Boys & Girls,
Alabama Shakes found themselves thrust into the global spotlight, achieving such milestones as performing at the White House and on "Saturday Night Live" along with winning widespread critical praise. Pitchfork lauded "Howard's gale-force delivery, an instrument that could have blown Otis Redding back."
The New York Times' Jon Pareles said, "Alabama Shakes sound raw-boned and proudly unprocessed." NME hailed the band as "a genuine, word-of-mouth, go-see-them-then-tell-10-friends-how-amazing-they-are thing." The Guardian observed, "their music, a deep earthy pit of blues and soul and swamp, is the sort of stuff that honeys the soul and puts fire in the loins."
As the album's legacy continues to grow - NPR included "
Hold On" in the top five of its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+" in 2018 - Boys & Girls remains a major cultural touchstone whose songs of survival, longing and irrepressible hope never lose their transcendent power.
