After breaking more than a decade of silence last year, Alabama Shakes are officially back in motion. The trio has released a new single, “American Dream,” a raw, slow-burning protest song that signals the next phase of their long-awaited third album — and their first for Island Records.
Built around a creaky, skeletal riff, “American Dream” finds frontwoman Brittany Howard delivering a weary and pointed vocal performances. “Low grade fever, lower wage people / How many folks got shot this week?” she asks, before the chorus drifts into something more ghostly and resigned: “The American dream / I wanna go back to sleep now.”
“It’s a snapshot of what we’re living through in 2026,” Howard says. “I look around and wonder how we got to a place where there’s so much strain and so little support. I mean, it shouldn’t be impossible to take off work so you can bring your child to the doctor — that’s actually insane. My hope is that one day people will hear this song and say, yeah, shit was crazy back then, but we made it through.”
The track follows 2025’s “Another Life,” which marked the band’s first new material in over a decade and effectively ended a prolonged hiatus after 2015’s Sound & Color. Both are expected to appear on the new album at some point later this year. In the meantime, Alabama Shakes are gearing up for a busy stretch on tour, beginning April 16 in Richmond, Va.
Stops include a first-ever headlining date at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and a long-awaited return overseas, highlighted by a show at London’s Alexandra Palace. Along the way, they’ll hit major festivals like Bonnaroo and Jazz Fest and join Zach Bryan for a pair of massive outdoor shows at Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware.
