Four-time GRAMMY® Award-winning band Alabama Shakes releases their long-awaited third studio album, I Must Be Dreaming, their first record in a decade.
The wait is finally over, thank goodness! The trio of Brittany Howard, Heath Fogg, and Zach Cockrell delivers a fiery body of work with raw feeling fueled by the uncanny musicality of three longtime friends. Blending their signature mix of alt-rock, blues, and soul with renewed intensity, I Must Be Dreaming commands attention and showcases the record’s duality. The idea that two things can be true. Brittany Howard describes it as “I must be dreaming because the world is so crazy and I must be dreaming because the world is so beautiful.”
Produced by Alabama Shakes alongside six-time GRAMMY® Award winner Shawn Everett, the record expands on the fearless musical exploration that defined the band’s landmark Sound & Color. Recorded in Nashville at Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio, the album leans into a richly textured, psychedelic soul sound while exploring love, mortality, human connection, and the increasingly surreal contradictions of modern life.
At the heart of the record, “I Feel Hope Coming” captures that journey through luminous textures, childlike harmonies, and understated optimism; the song is a tender yet galvanizing call to resist systems that dehumanize and move toward a future rooted in collective care.
“This younger generation makes me feel hopeful because they can see through all the political lies—that song’s about holding onto that hope, and refusing to give up,” says Brittany Howard on the track. Heath Fogg adds, “I’m really happy that song exists. It came from such a joyful moment of collaboration, and exemplifies everything I love about this band being reborn.”
The album took shape after the band reunited in late 2024, emerging from an unusually open-ended creative process that let the songs evolve in real time. As the trio rediscovered the chemistry that first made Alabama Shakes the singular rock band they are, the group embraced spontaneity in the studio, expanding their sonic palette with new instruments, flute, harpsichord, and sitar, along with richly layered vocals.
Alabama Shakes is currently on tour across North America and Europe and making their Radio City Music Hall debut in New York City this month.
As Howard puts it, the world may be crazy, but with Alabama Shakes back, it’s a little more beautiful too.
LISTEN TO THE I MUST BE DREAMING
