In 2017, Grammy Award-winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada had some down time between projects. He started writing some songs in his Austin studio, bringing in friends to play, with no particular plans for the results. After he had a few instrumentals down, he started asking around for a vocalist – he knew a lot of singers but was looking for something different, someone who wasn’t already entrenched in the Austin scene.

Weeks later, Quesada got a call out of the blue from someone named Eric Burton, who started singing over one of the tracks over the phone. “From the moment I heard him,” says Quesada, “I was all about it.”

The results of that inauspicious beginning can now be heard on the self-titled debut album from Black Pumas, the group that Quesada and Burton assembled, which has become one of the year’s most anticipated projects. Winners of Best New Band at the 2019 Austin Music Awards, Black Pumas were described as “Wu-Tang Clan meets James Brown” by KCRW and named one of NPR Music Alt.Latino’s best Latin Music Discoveries.

Quesada and Burton both return, over and over, to this almost mystical connection they felt from the beginning. It’s this sense of common purpose, of shared vision, that gives ‘Black Pumas’ its focus and power – and that points to great things ahead.

“It’s so seamless, it’s like we’re musical brothers to some degree,” says Burton. “It feels so easy to meld together that what’s most important for us now is to continue to look for new sounds – to make sure we’re feeding ourselves the knowledge to continue to evolve. Every time we get together, it’s better than the last time.”