Few music performances of this era can linger on the minds of fans quite like Black Pumas at Lollapalooza 2021. The Austin, Texas-reared psychedelic soul slingers took the stage at Grant Park more than two years ago, and few can stop talking about it — or rewatching it on YouTube, where there are more than 1 million views.
It was, as the band likes to call their performances, a kind of “electric church,” a come-to-Jesus performance that unified people in one of the first big events post-COVID. Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced the act, her wife Amy Eshleman danced with singer Eric Burton for a spell and a billowing crowd sang along to every word of the band’s huge hit, “Colors.”
The song was a gamechanger for Burton and guitarist-producer Adrian Quesada, who met basically as strangers in 2017; Burton was a former street busker from California who grew up on gospel, Quesada was an accomplished musician from Laredo, Texas, who found success with Latin funk orchestral act Grupo Fantasma.
A mutual friend and music producer introduced the two when Quesada was looking to put together a new project rooted in soul and needed someone who could sing. And boy can Burton ever.
Their chemistry was palpable, and shortly after putting out their gobsmacker of a self-titled debut in 2019 they become a cultural starburst in some collective dark times, particularly with their salve “Colors.” In the style of Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, talking of change and coming together, the song was a verifiable anthem that was everywhere from Target promos to President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony.
“What was amazing about it to me was that it was one of the songs that everyone put their own meaning to; it’s a beautiful thing and both [Eric and I] really appreciate that at this point,” Quesada explained in a recent interview as he darted between late-night tapings in New York as the Black Pumas continue to promote their superb sophomore release, “Chronicles of a Diamond,” released last October via ATO Records.
That itinerary includes a tour that will take them to the Salt Shed for three nights this week (the most consecutive nights of any city on the tour) where the band will, no doubt, put on another series of Chicago moments to remember. It’s perhaps benevolent payback, since they were so inspired by a trip to our fair city to record some as-of-yet-unreleased material at Wilco’s Loft.
“The place was such an amazing, creative and inspiring spot that we got home and immediately … some of the guys from the band rented the building next to my studio” to try and replicate the effect, said Quesada.
Those sessions had come off an abrupt break in 2022 in which many fans worried about the band’s future. “After four incredible years of career milestones and unforgettable live experiences around the world, we have made the difficult decision to press pause and step away from touring for the rest of the year,” the band said in a heartbreaking statement that August.
“I think it was really healthy for us to pause. … Things were just getting bigger and bigger … and it felt like there was no end in sight,” Quesada explained. “More than anything I don’t know that we would’ve gotten around to making another album this fast.”
The revived band found a new kind of energy for “Chronicles of a Diamond,” where Burton took more of a leading role in the framework of the music and is listed as a co-producer. “He had some incredible production ideas … some left-field ideas compared to the first [record] … and he guided quite a few of the songs,” said Quesada, who adds that, although the two have very different personalities, they’ve always bonded over music. “We both love everything from rock ’n’ roll to hip-hop to a lot of old soul music. But we never sit still in one direction.”
Quesada just had one big rule for the new material: “My most important thing was not repeating the first album. I didn’t want to try and make something retro or anything like that. We were kind of pegged that way a lot … so I didn’t want to the music to sound like it’s from the ’50s or ’70s but to sound like it could be made now.”
The efforts netted fruitful results like the acoustic folk ballad “Angel” (about Burton going home to take care of his mother), a song where the singer’s angel-choir voice melds beautifully with Quesada’s sensitive finger plucking. There’s also the upbeat and funky R&B hand clapper “Ice Cream (Pay Phone),” where Burton hits high on the register and Quesada’s experience backing up Prince comes into play. And of course there’s the first single “More Than a Love Song,” on which Burton begins with a James Brown-esque yelp and proceeds into some homily-fused spoken word.
Like any shiny, bright diamond, the album was made out of a good deal of pressure. “Especially compared to the first album where there literally was no pressure, there was no expectation, nobody knew what was coming. … But in a sense it might’ve been good for us, to light a fire under our asses a bit,” Quesada divulged, conceding, “But if people can connect to this album the same way they did with ‘Colors’ then that’s a win for me.”
