Q & A Brittany Howard

'The route I'm taking to being a farmer is ridiculous," Brittany Howard says, sitting at the William Vale luxury hotel during her press trip to New York. She's fantasizing about a potential future, one where she would maybe own a farm like the one she grew up on.

It's one of many ways she can see herself adding to the list of non-musical hobbies in her repertoire since 2020: fixing boats, fishing. But don't worry, music is still at the front of the former Alabama Shakes leader's mind at 35. She has a new solo album, What Now, due out Feb. 2. She started working on it in 2020 while isolating in a rental home in Nashville. It's a testament to newfound patience that translates into some of her most grounded and reflective music yet.

You wrote this album during a time when you were still waiting to tour your 2019 solo debut more widely. What was that like?

Honestly, I kind of put that to the side. I just wanted to stay alive. So much was going on in the world... Black Lives Matter, a tornado where I lived in Nashville, helping people pick the pieces back up. Everybody was worried about their job security. I was sad about that, but as time went on, I was like, "Oh, this is actually pretty nice to not be on the road."... I was like, "What do I want my life to look like?" It was like a tiny midlife crisis. In those three years, I grew up a lot.

Did that time make you rethink how you approached music?