Alabama Shakes singer gives Instagram guitar lesson

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Brittany Howard and the Alabama Shakes on tour in 2014.
Brittany Howard and the Alabama Shakes on tour in 2014.
Photo: Liza Agsalud/Wikipedia CC

Rock music history is rife with musicians who developed a sort of god complex from money and fame.

A recent posting on Instagram indicates fame is unlikely to corrupt Brittany Howard, lead singer and guitarist for Alabama Shakes, who used the photo- and video-sharing platform to give a fan a guitar lesson.

Kait Whiteside, 24, of Louisville, Kentucky, posted a short clip of herself working on the opening riff of the Shakes’ song “Future People.” It sounded good, but she couldn’t quite finish it. She captioned her video “Doing my best,” and commented, “You think Brittany and Muffin would let me jam with em?”

Doing my best @blackfootwhitefoot. #AlabamaShakes #guitar #FuturePeople #gibsonsg

A video posted by Kaitlyn Whiteside (@kait_whiteside) on

How about a yes.

@kait_whiteside here's the rest

A video posted by Brittany H. (@blackfootwhitefoot) on

On Aug. 11, Howard replied to Whiteside’s video with one of her own, showing a closeup of her fingers on the neck of her guitar slowly fingering the part Whiteside couldn’t finish. She wrote, “@kat_whiteside here’s the rest.”

Whiteside was floored. She regrammed Howard’s response with, “Um, the lead singer from Alabama Shakes responded to my random little Instagram vid. R.I.P. Me.”

Alabama Shakes is now touring to sold-out crowds with its second album, Sound & Color. Howard’s powerful, Joplin-esque voice and the band’s roots-rock sound have kept them on top of the charts since their arrival a few years back. The band recently played with Paul McCartney at Lollapalooza and have done a couple of shows at the White House.

Their rise out of Athens, Alabama, was meteoric.

But as Digital Music News’ Ari Herstand pointed out, when breaking the story of Howard’s Instagram guitar lesson, most musicians can’t seem to make simple gestures like these to reach their fans.

“This is a perfect example of how it doesn’t take much effort to not only make a fan’s day but show ALL your fans that you’re not above them,” Herstand wrote. “You appreciate them. You’re in it with them. And you care about them, dammit.”

Her quick guitar lesson, Herstand pointed out, got more comments then her photo of singing with McCartney.

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