In 1995, Maya Angelou stood before the United Nations and delivered the poem “A Brave and Startling Truth,” exploring humanity’s capacity for both destruction and healing, as well as cruelty and kindness.
Twenty-five years later, the late poet’s hopeful message inspired Grammy-winning artist Brittany Howard to write the uplifting song “Another Day”during the pandemic. Singing over an infectious drum pattern, Howard envisions a world where we can “be who we want and see who we like.”
“Everything was so scary,” recalled Howard, 35, who lives in Nashville. “We had Black Lives Matter, we had people that looked like me being beat for no reason in the streets. We had things on fire, floods and mudslides. It was me standing still in the wind, so to speak, to make sense of it all and to take stock of the only thing I had control of, which was my mindset.”
The song appears on Howard’s second solo album, “What Now,” due Feb. 9. She will promote the project with a tour, which kicks off in Chicago at Thalia Hall with sold-out shows Feb. 6-7.
Untitled
Brittany Howard
When: 8 p.m. Feb. 6-7
Where: Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St.
Tickets: Sold-out
Info: thaliahallchicago.com
Howard’s penchant for world-building extends beyond the utopian vision on “Another Day.” She has built a new musical world on “What Now,” which blurs the lines of genre. She is also building a new emotional world for herself: Her attempt to avoid unhealthy relationships is outlined on the album, which she calls “healing.”
She even threads the tracks together with the sound of singing bowls, welcoming listeners into a meditative state.
“I finally took responsibility for breaking my own heart by participating in the type of relationships that I was participating in,” Howard said. “I got old enough to realize I’m the common denominator, and I need to start taking some responsibility or else things aren’t going to change for me.”
That message is prominent on the single “Red Flags,” which finds Howard showing off her vocal range, from rich low tones to soaring soprano notes. She said she arranged the harmonies to mimic 1940s male vocal groups like the Ink Spots. (Their song “Address Unknown” is memorably featured on “Better Call Saul.”)
“It just gives this nostalgia of forlorn love songs that they used to sing back then,” Howard said.
Howard channels the doo-wop style of the 1950s on “I Don’t” and “Earth Sign,” which she said includes five to seven different harmonies that she arranged in 15 minutes.
Howard isn’t shy about showing off her talent as a singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and engineer; fans can see videos of her building her songs on Instagram.
“I got a lot of inspiration from Missy Elliott when I was growing up,” Howard said. “She was one of those people that I saw doing everything. … And if I could have that effect on any young woman, or any young person in general, that would be incredible.”
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While Howard said women musicians have to “work twice as hard to be half-recognized,” she said she can’t discount progress in the field.
“I see so many female musicians now that absolutely are shredding,” she said. “And I just think about when I was 11 years old, not seeing any women whatsoever playing guitar except for Tracy Chapman and Dolly Parton. And feeling really alone and not sure how anyone was going to take it seriously.”
Still, Howard said she doesn’t strive to be a guitar god; when Rolling Stone included her on its “greatest guitarists” list last year, she said she was “surprised.”
“I don’t put so much of myself into being a guitar player,”she said. “I think of myself as a composer because a lot of what I’m doing and where most of my passion is — is in putting all of the pieces together. … It’s just a means to an end, these instruments.”
Howard said she looks up to other jacks-of-all-trades — like Prince.
“One thing Prince would do that I’m still learning from is how much information he could fit into a song,” she said.
“That, to me, is really inspiring because sometimes it’s less about the musicality of the instrument and more about the environment that instrument’s creating. So it doesn’t necessarily need to be heard, but it needs to be felt. I’m still learning a lot from his arrangements and why he’s choosing, like, this many funk guitars at once.”
As Howard continues to experiment with her sound, she said she isn’t concerned with accolades.
“I don’t need approval from other people as much as I used to when I was younger,” she said. “I just appreciate being able to connect to people through music. ... Putting pressure on myself to be the best at something is just going to take me away from inspiration.”
