Black Pumas brace for big time
Group is up for new-artist Grammy on Sunday.
Adrian Quesada was standing on the set of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” recently, the latest milestone in a lightning-quick rise for his band Black Pumas, when he was struck by the surreal nature of the moment.
It was just two years ago that the guitarist had linked up with singer and lyricist Eric Burton in a teaming of two Austin, Texas, hot talents. And it was just seven months ago that the Pumas released their self-titled debut album, a deeply textured collection of oldschool-but-bright-eyed soul-rock that prompted a new-artist nomination at Sunday’s Grammy Awards.
As Quesada soaked in the scene at the “Ellen” taping — for a segment that aired Monday — he flashed back to the group’s less-glittery origins.
“I was looking around the studio, thinking back to when we decided to officially make this a band. I remembered joking to Eric: ‘Let’s play for a month at C-Boy’s (a small Austin bar) and see if anybody cares,’” he says. “And people cared. I think our sincerity, just doing it for fun, and making music we would want to listen to ourselves is helping people connect to this.”
The Black Pumas’ sound is a mélange of familiar parts, a sonic world where shades of Bill Withers, Motown, Shuggie Otis and the Dramatics swirl around rock licks and a hip-hop undercurrent.
That combination — and electrifying live presence bolstered by five band mates — has spurred an impressive rise for Burton, a former street musician, and Quesada, a veteran player who spent time with the Latin-funk ensemble Grupo Fantasma. Within months, the Black Pumas jumped from small clubs to packed theaters across North America and Europe.
This month, the band performed its breakout hit “Colors” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and spots at high-profile festivals such as Coachella and Michigan’s Electric Forest are on tap.
“We’re just trying to take this in,” Quesada says. “It’s been happening so fast, we’ve hardly had a chance to stop and think about it.”
Burton, who grew up in sometimes troubled circumstances in the Watts district of Los Angeles, was a newcomer to Austin when he connected with Quesada in 2017. He’d carved out a career as a sidewalk busker, playing guitar and singing in cities up the West Coast and now in the Texas capital.
“You could feel the receptivity, the passion there for arts and music,” he says. “If I didn’t know Austin was the live-music capital of the world, I could definitely feel it.”
On his own, Burton was “doing more folksy, singer-songwriter, neo-soul type of stuff,” as he describes it. But his versatile voice and blossoming reputation around town had would-be collaborators knocking at his door — and it was Quesada who ultimately lucked out.
The guitarist already had worked up a set of instrumental tracks intended for a solo project, music inspired in part by the vintage hip-hop of Wu-Tang Clan.
“At the time, I was listening to a lot of soul music,” Quesada says. “But (the hip-hop) came specifically on a run one morning when I was listening to some Ghostface Killah, the way he used soul samples in his songs, how he looped things, the vibe he created. That’s literally what inspired me to sit down and work on some tracks.”
Now his music needed lyrics and a strong voice, and Quesada scored both with his newfound partner. Burton came armed with compositions of his own, and together the pair fitted them the existing tracks or – as with “Touch the Sky” – built them into originals.
“I felt it right away, as soon as he started singing,” Quesada says. “I noticed we were on the same wavelength once he started showing me his songs.”
For Burton, working with Quesada found him channeling a gift he didn’t quite realize he possessed. Though he’d grown up singing in church, his folksy solo inclinations had led him to a different musical place.
“Adrian kind of reintroduced me to soul music,” the 27-year-old says. “The production reminded me of an era I’d never actually experienced. When he first sent me the tracks, I thought, ‘I
don’t know how to sing on this.’ I went back and listened to Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Otis Redding, and to my surprise, I was able to fall in and absorb that stuff pretty easily.”
The studio stuff was clicking. But playing live would be a different test. When the pair embarked on their trial residency at C-Boy’s in Austin, enlisting several area musicians to join them, it was a jump for Burton, who’d cut his teeth as a solo player on the street.
“I kind of had to sink or swim: ‘All right, we’re onstage now. This isn’t busking for change at 6th and Congress anymore,’” the singer recalls.
These days, Black Pumas’ live stuff is the band’s calling card. On YouTube, the group has drawn millions of views and rave reviews for its assortment of “Live Session” clips, and several new ones were recently taped in Austin for posting in coming weeks.
They may be Grammy long shots in a best new artist field that includes bookmaker favorites Billie Eilish and Lizzo. But the nomination is impressive enough – a sign that Black Pumas’ organic, word-of-mouth rise has hit the wider industry radar.
“It was very much a surprise,” Quesada says of the Grammy nod. “We all got into a group hug and everybody shared some words. We went through all the emotions – at some point, everybody cried a bit, smiled a bit.”
Sunday’s Grammy festivities will be followed by a touring schedule that will roll into fall, including bigger venues and multinight bookings as Black Pumas’ rise gains momentum.
The band is clearly resonating with its blend of explosive, deftly grooved soul. But there’s an additional factor in play, Burton reckons: While Black Pumas didn’t set out to make a political point, he says, the group’s “message of sincerity and love” is clearly hitting a 2020 sweet spot.
“We say it all the time – we’ve got male, female, white, black, Hispanic in this band,” the singer says. “I guess we’re a symbol of unity, and it’s nice to be appreciated by people who think we represent a statement that needs to be made today.”