Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The Black Pumas are a heavy-grooving soul-rock band from Austin that came together around the collaboration of big-hearted singer Eric Burton and Grammy-winning guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada. Quesada has a rich background playing and producing soul, funk, and Latin music, and he earned his Grammy as a member of Grupo Fantasma in 2010. (The band also backed up Prince on numerous occasions.) With his Al Greene-style burred falsetto, Los Angeles-born Burton developed his ability to emotionally connect with an audience through years of singing in church and busking across the country.

Their paths crossed in Austin, a band formed, and they began gaining attention through a weekly residency at the venue C-Boys and buzz-worthy performances at SXSW.

I caught the Pumas at their first-ever Brooklyn show at the Knitting Factory. Their self-titled debut record was released last week on ATO Records, and the band will be touring the United States extensively throughout the summer, with European dates in the fall.

The Black Pumas will also play Lincoln Center Out of Doors on a special program that features Quesada’s 2018 recording project “Look at My Soul: The Latin Shade of Texas Soul.”

Settling in at soundcheck

Burton at soundcheck

Quesada makes adjustments to the evening’s setlist.

Members of the band catch up with a friend at a bar near the venue.

Bassist Vince Chiarito examines the setlist before the show.

Burton warms his throat with some tea.

Drummer Stephen Bidwell and bassist Chiarito make some final adjustments.

Backup singers Lauren Cervantes and Angela Miller warm up with the help of a little tequila.

Burton pounces to the edge of the stage at the start of the set.

Burton and Quesada

Cervantes and Miller leave the stage.

Burton brings members of the audience on stage for the encore.

Burton greets a fan after the show.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate