Brittany Howard takes unexpected twists and turns on 'What Now'

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Brittany Howard Bobbi Rich/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Bobbi Rich/Courtesy of the artist

Brittany Howard

Bobbi Rich/Courtesy of the artist

What Now, the title of Brittany Howard's new album, is not only a rhetorical question about the uncertain state of the world, it's also a nod to her wildly diverse and often unexpected sonic turns.

Co-produced by Shawn Everett, who has worked with Kacey Musgraves and The Killers, What Now comes four years after Howard's critically acclaimed debut solo album, Jaime.

Howard says the songs on What Now started out as demos recorded in her home studio.

"It's kind of where it all began," she says. "Then, these words started pouring out of me, and I was, like, 'uh oh ... this is brutal'."

In this session, Howard talks about transforming those demos — and the self-discoveries they brought — into vibrant, experimental songs involving instruments like PVC piping, trash bags and crystal singing bowls. She also talks about the other important way she uses singing bowls: as part of her meditation practice.

This session includes live performances, recorded at The Factory in Deep Ellum, in Dallas. Thank you to Shane Haase for mixing and Grant Zubritsky for mastering those live performances.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.