Song Exploder - Brittany Howard - Stay High

Episode Date: September 18, 2019

Brittany Howard is the guitarist and lead singer of the four-time Grammy-winning band Alabama Shakes. This month, she’s releasing her first solo album, called Jaime. In this episode, Brittany breaks down the song “Stay High,” which was the album’s first single. She started working on it while staying at a house in Topanga Canyon, near LA. songexploder.net/brittany-howard

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and, piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. My name is Tau Wyn. Brittany Howard is the guitarist and lead singer of the four-time Grammy-winning band Alabama Shakes. This month, she's releasing her first solo album called Jamie. In this episode, Brittany breaks down the song Stay High, which was the album's first single. She started working on it while staying at a house in Topanga Canyon, near L.A. I was in Topanga last July. I came out here to start writing a record.

I remember sitting in the living room and had this old acoustic guitar and just picked it up and started playing the... It wasn't anything special. It was just like an A to a D and it was like really fluid with no accents on any of the strumming. And I was like, I like that. That's like a breath of fresh air to me, you know? It's nice and airy and simple. And then I had the idea for the chorus. When I have an idea, I get everything at once.

I hear the drums, I hear the bass, I hear everything and where it's going, and I have to run to someplace to put it down immediately. Because it's kind of like a fish on a line. You know, you've got to fish on, don't snap it off. Like, you've got to keep working with that fish. And you've got to do it now because, you know, you can't fight a fish all night, you know what I mean? And so once I felt like, okay, I have a song. coming here. I like ran to my little studio. It was like in a greenhouse. It was super hot in there,

but I just ran in. I had bought an air conditioner for it, but every time I had to record, I had to turn it off. So it was like a hundred-something degrees inside this greenhouse and just, I was like I have to go as quickly as possible because one, I'll probably dive heatstroke in here and two, I'll lose the song if I don't go as quickly as possible. So that rhythmic guitar part was the first thing. And then I started doing the drum part on the back of the guitar. Then I just started singing once I got that far. It just all came out in one go, really. I didn't have to think about it.

It just came out finished. The lyrics for this song, I knew immediately they were supposed to juxtapose how dreamy and playful and innocent and childlike the music was. To me, the music is like sunlight. And then I wanted for the lyrics to sound more corrupted. like the voice that speaking has lived life. And they're saying, yeah, I work hard all day. Yeah, this is how life is.

I can't ever get over the hump. However, I'm going home to my family at the end of the day, and this is what makes me keep trying and keep working. And I'm cool with that. I've always had jobs. Sometimes I've had two jobs at once. I grew up in a place where we didn't have any money. My parents both worked really hard,

but sometimes it's just hard to get over that hump. You know what I mean? I grew up in a trailer park, and then as soon as I was old enough to get a job, I think I was around 14 or 15 years old, I bagged groceries, and I never stopped working until I was a mail carrier. And then finally, you know, when Alabama Shakes was found, I could quit my job. It was like the best day of my life.

One of the best days of my life, for a shirt. So I recorded the demo, but really I was thinking about trashing it just because I didn't want to go back to this kind of throwback R&B deal, paint myself in a corner of like I'm only, I only do a few things. Like I only have a few functions as a songwriter and as a singer. And I was, there's just really leery of doing that again. And I had been staying in Topanga with my partner. She was going to finish writing her book.

So we both had our own creative spaces. And at the end of the day, we would sit together on the porch and just talk about hard creative days went. So I went, sat down on the porch. And she was like, well, what did you do today? And I said, well, I did write something. and she was like, okay, let me hear it. And I was like, I don't know about it.

I said, I think I took a step in the wrong direction. And she was like, well, let's hear it. And I played it. And immediately she was like, oh, that's it. That's a single. And I was like, ah, I don't think so. I don't know if I want to go back to this place. But she was like, you know, if you like it,

there's something you like, then you should pursue it and just share that with people. It doesn't matter. And I was like, all right. So then I had decided, okay, I'm not going to trash this song. So I took it to the studio and I showed it to Sean Everett, my engineer, and he was like, oh, yeah, let's track it, let's go. This is great. Me and Sean work really well together because my demos come pretty complete with ideas.

And he takes my 2D image of what I'm trying to do and turns it into like 4D. And so I was playing the drum track on my demo just on the back of the acoustic guitar. So it had this really cool sound already. And then when it came time to actually put down the real tracks for the record, you know, we got Nate Smith, this is a world-class drummer, comes in the studio. And every day, Sean Everett has made him a kit based on what kind of drum sound we want for what kind of song we're doing.

So this day, it was just time to do stay high. And I remember coming in and Sean has got a snare drum where the kick drum should be, and then just a snare drum, and I think like one ride symbol. But he's got all these little pressure mics all over. These little black microphones stuck on each thing with like this putty. And so Nate comes in to sit down and he's going like, man, what is this? And we're all laughing.

And we're just like, I can't believe that this is a kit that we're going to track. Then Sean gives them two chopsticks and says, here, play with these. And, I mean, we're just dying in the studio. We can't believe it. We think it's a joke. It's not a joke. Sean starts rolling and says, all right, here it comes, you ready? And Nate's like, all right, man.

And then so I'm sitting in a control room and I'm hearing it, and I'm going, it sounds amazing. Tacky and very texturous. I mean, it sounded great. And I was like, don't question Sean. I mean, he knows what he's doing. He's a mad genius. Zach Cockrell is playing bass on this track.

So in my demos when I first did this song, all I had was the bass. doing this repetitive, do, do, do, do. I tried to keep the bass never changing chords as much as possible just because to me it's like a very grounding element in the song, gives you something to hang on to, you know, rides with the drums. Just true rhythm section style, nothing fancy. And then Zach shows up and he was like, hey, I kind of had this idea for the bass part.

And he started playing the do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. It's a hook all on its own. And his intentions were kind of to play that throughout the song. And he was like, but what do you think? And I said, do both. And then I was like, okay, the bass line's very simple. The drum's very simple. What can I top off this sandwich with?

I just wanted to find something high and sparkly and dreamy. And when we got to the studio, I was so surprised to see that they actually had a Celeste. Robert Glassford played Celeste on his track. A Celeste is like a P.N. But when you play a note, instead of a hammer hitting piano strings, the hammer hits a metal plate. And Robert Glasper is an acclaimed Grammy-winning jazz pianist. Yeah, so Rob Glasper did the key parts on this song. I had originally written them on my demo.

And then Rob listened to what I had done one time through and then went in there and played it his way. When it comes to this song, the kind of saving grace for me, like from the demo to being excited about it, was when I started performing it live in the studio, and I started hearing the sounds and the way that it felt to sing over them, and I thought, well, this just feels good. I already see back to where it is that you come from it.

I went in and just did a quick vocal take, and it was easy, effortless, it was cool, it was fun for me to enjoy songwriting. I like for all of it to go together. Everything informs the other thing, you know. So when I'm doing the vocal performance, I got to sound like I'm cool and relaxed and having fun, no big deal.

So I do this little laughs in between, and it was just because I was having a good time. I mean, I was. That's important. That's information we're taking down, recording, running on tape, mastering, and then serving up. And it's important that I mean it.

Yes, me. At night where we get to play. I wanted it to sound intimate, having lots of texture, picking up lots of sibilance, having every little detail, picking up all the gravel and all that important information. I'm not looking necessarily for perfection because when you're trying to tell someone how you feel, perfection's not always the way to go. I'm looking for the heart, the emotion, what kind of story is given someone just by the tone, by the style.

So I kind of sing it real snaky, you know, cold-blooded and cool and no straight lines, no technical perfection when I'm singing. It's always kind of moving all over the place the whole song. Because where I come, everybody flounds and walks around

with that ugly thing on their face. So where I come from, there's a saying that says, get the ugly thing off your face. And it just means quit frowning. That's what it means. You never know what's going to strike with people, too. But this song feels good.

And I think it's an important time right now to make people feel good. It's crazy out there, man. And then for the chorus, I needed them to hit a chord that did the thing that got into my skin, got into my spine. So I was more careful when I was crafting these courses just because I wanted them to do that thing where all the harmonies line up in a certain way, where it feels like a lush chord.

The song exists primarily just to stay positive. It's hard. I know what it's like to leave your job that you just worked 13 hours at and you're soaked in sweat and you're thirsty and your feet hurt and your knees hurt. And you go home and you're like,

I can't wait to practice tonight because that's what brought me joy was making music, playing music. I could not wait to go to practice. this after a day of work like that because it made me happy and that's what I lived for at the time. That's what I was trying to give to

people. Look for that thing that lights you up, look for that thing that brings you joy. And now, here's Stay High by Brittany Howard in its entirety. Visit songexplotor.net for more information about Brittany Howard and to watch the video for Stay High.

Terry cruises in it and it's great. You also find a link to buy or stream this song. Song Exploder is made by Rishi Kesh Hereway, producer Christian Coons and me, Tau Wyn. I'm guest hosting for the year, sitting in for Rishi Kesh. Carlos Laram is our illustrator. You can see his portrait of Brittany Howard on the Song Exploder website or Instagram. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of creative, independent podcasts.

You can learn about all of our shows at Radiotopia.fm. You can also follow Song Exploder on Facebook. Instagram and Twitter at SongExploder, and you can follow me at Tao Get Stay Down. My name is Tao Wyn. Thanks for listening. Radiotopia.