The Alabama Shakes that rose from a small town to become one of indie rock’s biggest bands had four people in it. Now it’s just three.

Drummer Steve Johnson, whose beats helped make signature Shakes songs like “Hold On” and “Always Alright” so cathartic and danceable, isn’t part of the band’s recent reunion.

In December, for their first live performance together in seven years, Alabama Shakes singer/guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg and bassist Zack Cockrell were backed by Nashville drummer Lewis Wright. New publicity photos as well as images from a recent recording session, shared via the band’s social media, only depict Howard, Fogg and Cockrell.

Now, in a series of videos posted to his personal Facebook page, Johnson is telling his side of the story. Johnson, who still resides in the Shakes’ hometown of Athens in north Alabama, says the rest of the band asked for his resignation in 2021, after Johnson was arrested and charged with child abuse. The charges, which stemmed from a spanking incident, were later dropped.

“It was during this time the band reached out to me about resigning,” Johnson says in a video posted Thursday. “I’m kind of broken at this point after everything that I had been through.” According to Johnson, none of his bandmates reached out to him while he was going through his 2021 legal issues.

He says the reason the band gave him for asking for his resignation was because, “I was bad for the ‘brand’ at this point. I was like, ‘I can’t believe I didn’t have your support. I can’t believe you believe this narrative, even after I did everything that I had to do to go through it and clean it all up.’ But that’s the way they said they wanted it.”

By this point, Johnson says he was “just tired.” And that after marrying Amber Parvin, his second wife, and with his kids back with him again he was content being at home. “I was good with it,” he says. Especially after years of extensive touring for Alabama Shakes’ two critically and commercially successful albums, 2012’s “Boys & Girls” and 2015’s “Sound & Color.”

Johnson says band management sent him a resignation contract in the mail. He says that per the contract, as a one-quarter stakeholder in the band along with Howard, Fogg and Cockrell, would “retain ownership of what you’ve done [with Alabama Shakes in the past].” But he wouldn’t “take anything moving forward.”

Within that same week, his wife Amber passed away at age 32. “And that contract fell to the wayside like everything else,” Johnson says. He says, “The band came to the funeral, paid their condolences and left.” But after that, “I didn’t hear anything from any of them. At all,” he says.

In early 2024, the band’s manager followed up with Johnson asking him if he was going to sign the resignation contract, Johnson says. Johnson told the manager to direct any questions now to Johnson’s attorney.

After that, Johnson says he didn’t hear from management again for a while. Then later that year, the band’s manager reached out “as a courtesy” to tell him Alabama Shakes would be playing shows in 2025 without him.

“I didn’t take it well,” Johnson says in the video. “I said, ‘Courtesy? A little late.’”

In his Facebook videos, Johnson admits having played some subpar shows due to making what he calls “bad decisions” on the road, overindulging. In his videos, he also admits to being unfaithful to his first wife while touring with Alabama Shakes.

Still, with Alabama Shakes reuniting Johnson felt he deserved to at least be allowed to audition to keep his job.

He said he asked management, “‘What’s up with this?’ Why don’t I get the gig anymore, huh?’ After all the cleanup I had to do on my end, not to mention the sacrifices before that.

“Sure, I made some bad decisions. But you’re gonna hang me having a couple of bad moments on the road over my head for life? You’re gonna punish me for life for bad shows or because whatever I went through personally you got questioned about? Some lost opportunities? We were on hiatus anyways.”

He says management called for a band meeting, to take place via video call. Johnson says Fogg and Zack Cockrell were also on that video call, but Howard wasn’t. He says management said they were on the call on behalf of Howard.

“In that moment, I pretty much knew where my worth was,” Johnson says in the video, “and knew that nothing I said was going to make any difference. I was there and then I wasn’t. And that’s it in a nutshell.”

Johnson says after that band meeting, he sent Howard a guitar he had of hers back along with a letter “apologizing for any misfortune that befell her because of situations in my personal life.” He says he never heard back.

Johnson’s series of Facebook videos are more than a post breakup airing of grievances. As a whole, they’re like an audiobook version of a well-told musician memoir. There’s first-person perspective and details an outsider telling a band’s story wouldn’t have.

In the videos, which Johnson began posting Jan. 5, he started with warm remembrances of Alabama Shakes’ origin story, working his way through making their songs and the band’s successes. The band won four Grammys. They performed on “Saturday Night Live.” They headlined amphitheaters and played for huge crowds at top music festivals.

There’s also some fascinating behind the scenes intel. For example, during the recording sessions for “Sound & Color,” which saw the band’s soul-rock sound becoming more experimental, at one point drum great Steve Jordan, known for his work with stars like John Mayer and most recently The Rolling Stones, was brought in to help Johnson evolve his playing.

Also, after the “Sound & Color” album cycle, Alabama Shakes got together to work on new material, Johnson says. That material later became Howard’s solo album, Johnson says, when she launched a solo career in 2019.

AL.com reached out to Alabama Shakes regarding assertions Johnson makes in his videos. In an email sent via a publicist, the band replied in a joint statement, “In our conversation with Steve in 2021 we made it clear that we would be parting ways. We wish him all the best.”

This week, Alabama Shakes announced their first full show since 2017. Along with Green Day, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and Hozier, the band will headline this summer’s Minnesota Yacht Club Festival in St. Paul. On Sunday, Howard will perform at the 2025 Grammys, where she’s also nominated for an award.

Johnson says he still hasn’t signed that resignation contract. He tells me in a Facebook direct message, “I’ve seen enough documentaries where songwriters get taken advantage of and lose their catalog. I’m not stupid and don’t ever intend to sign or look at any contract they send. If they want to tour under the name Alabama Shakes, then that’s their prerogative. As long as they continue to pay my share, they can do whatever makes them feel good about themselves.”

Johnson tells me his suggestion to his erstwhile bandmates: “Start a new band. Start a new brand. You have all the capital to do it and the resources in your team. Rather than delete me from a narrative and muscle forward in an outfit that I very much had a hand in creating.”

In one of his videos, Johnson talks about drummers he admires, including Jim Gordon, who was in Eric Clapton’s Derek & Dominoes band. He’s also a fan of Bob Burns, drummer on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic early albums and tours. “It’s always the first drummers that bring it,” Johnson says. “It’s hard to recapture that later, that energy.”