Songfacts®:

• Vocalist Brittany Howard told the story of this song to NME. She said: "I wrote that song to myself. It's meant to uplift. I was leaving my dad's house and I had this melody in my head and I was singing these words and by the time I got to the highway I knew how the song should be."
• "You Ain't Alone" is one of the earliest Alabama Shakes songs, appearing on their independently released 2011 EP. At the end of that year, soon after they signed a record deal, the song was used in a Zales jewelry commercial.
• "You Ain't Alone" is the song that got the attention of blogger Justin Gage, who posted it on his Aquarium Drunkard blog, leading to a record deal for Alabama Shakes. He came across the song on the band's ReverbNation page and reached out to Brittany Howard, who let him post the song on July 25, 2011. Gage called the band "a slice of the real; an unhinged, and as of yet unsigned, blues-based soul outfit fronted by a woman armed with a whole lotta voice and a Gibson SG."
  
  The blog had a lot of industry followers, and many looked to sign the band. They ended up signing to Dave Matthews' ATO Records and releasing the song on their 2012 debut album, Boys & Girls.