Alabama Shakes Drummer Steven William Johnson Arrested on Child Abuse Charges

Alabama Shakes drummer Steven William Johnson was arrested earlier this week on multiple child abuse charges in Limestone County, Alabama, according to Huntsville’s WHNT. A Grand Jury indicted him on charges of “willful torture, willful abuse, and cruelly beating or otherwise willfully maltreating a child under the age of 18.” His arraignment is scheduled for April 7, 2021.

Last March, Johnson pleaded guilty to a 2019 violation of a domestic violence protection order in March of last year, according to WHNT. He’s a founding member of Alabama Shakes and played on both 2012’s Boys & Girls and 2015’s Sound & Color. The group went on hiatus in 2018 as frontperson Brittany Howard turned her focus toward her solo work. Pitchfork has contacted Alabama Shakes’ representatives for comment.