Track 10 - “Colors” by Black Pumas (2019)

From the album Black Pumas

Music and lyrics by Eric Burton

Performed by:

Eric Burton – lead vocals, guitar

Adrian Quesada – guitar

US Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative - #21; US Billboard Adult Top 40 - #37

Nominated – Record of the Year, 2021 Grammy awards

I woke up to the morning sky first

Baby blue, just like we rehearsed

When I get up off this ground, I shake leaves back down to the brown, brown, brown

‘Til I’m clean

Then I walk where I’d be shaded by the trees

By a meadow of green

For about a mile

I’m headed to town, town, town in style

With all my favorite colors, yes sir

All my favorite colors, right on

My sisters and my brothers

See ‘em like no other

All my favorite colors

 On March 17th, 2020, I made my usual drive to where I worked, to the giant Westchester campus of one of the most well-known organizations in the world. I walked across the parking lot, waved my badge at the front door, and after stopping for coffee in the café, went to one of the stand-up desks in my team’s area, opened my laptop and logged on. There were two other people in my area of the campus present that day, and only a handful more scattered throughout the building. I knew I would be one of the few people at the office that day but being someone who would rather work in an office than at home, I wanted to be there until I would literally no longer be permitted on the campus. The morning was productive, although I did have to cancel a few in-person interviews, as those were already being moved to virtual; all company-wide travel was also put on indefinite hold. At around 1PM, I logged off, gathered up my laptop and other gear, walked out to the parking lot and drove home. I would not return to the campus until July of 2021, almost eighteen months. All over the world, but in and around NYC in particular, offices and businesses were closing, schools were preparing for online learning, and food delivery and Zoom meetings would soon become part of everyday life. What would unfold in the next year would be unlike anything this generation had ever faced before, as a worldwide pandemic took hold and everyday life would be disrupted in ways we never imagined.

I could write an entire blog about what I remember from those first few months, with learning how to work from home every day and how to safely grocery shop being tops on that list. I could also mention mask wearing, “social distancing”, watching case numbers climb, and toilet paper shortages. (Quote of the year from my wife Christine, after I expressed dismay at why the stores had no toilet paper: “Everyone is home. They gotta use the bathroom. Do the math!”) But most of all I could write about uncertainty. Every day brought different news, different questions, different information, and most of all different opinions. It was enough keeping yourself and loved ones safe, but on top of that, you had to deal with who heard this or that, and what was on the news; it was a lot to process. My wife and I realized quickly we needed to get just a little bit of certainty back in our lives during those early pandemic days, and most of all, get out of the house without putting ourselves in danger. The only thing we knew for certain that would always be open, would always be there, and also be safe, was the outdoors. We had hundreds of miles of hiking trails in our backyard, and over the course of 10 straight Saturdays in the spring of 2020, we took advantage of those trails, kept our sanity, and stayed in shape. It was during this time that I also discovered a radio station that if not for Christine, I might not have ever tuned in. And it was there that I discovered an amazing new soul band from Austin, Texas, that would inspire me and help guide me through all the uncertainty in 2020.

I’d be lying if I said I was a big outdoors person and loved to hike before I met my wife. Sure, I’d hiked before, but growing up on Long Island, with its lack of mountains and open spaces meant I had to travel upstate to find any trails, and I just never had a lot of desire to do that. But when I met Christine, that changed. She grew up in the Hudson Valley in New York, and had a big love for the outdoors, hiking and running cross country in high school and college. Although we lived on Long Island when we met, we trekked to the Catskills to explore the trails she hiked as a kid, and later we vacationed in Acadia and Shenandoah National Parks, where there were more trails than we had time to hike them. But once we moved to Connecticut, we had access to not only upstate New York trails, but also the Berkshires in Massachusetts, all the trails in Northern Connecticut, and the trips to Maine became much more frequent. So, we hiked a lot. In March of 2020 when we decided the outdoors would become our safe place, we consulted a Connecticut Walk Book that we received as a Christmas gift the year before, and every Friday night we’d look at options for the next day. Maybe most amazing is that during that time, it rained only once, and we just bumped our hike to the following day. But every Saturday without fail, we threw water and lunch in our packs, made sure we had rain gear just in case, and we headed out. We must have hiked almost 100 miles in those 10 weeks; once or twice we were joined by friends, and once my boys came along before it became too unsafe for them to travel up from Long Island to see us. Other than that, it was just the two of us every week. It was on our way home during one of these trips that Christine asked me if I wanted to DJ the ride. We had stopped for iced coffee at a drive-thru, wiping down the cups of course, and were settling in for the hour drive home. I had no idea what I wanted to listen to, so Christine asked me if ever heard of “The Spectrum.”:

 Me: “Is that a band?”

Christine: “No, it’s a radio station, on Sirius.”
Me: “A radio station? What do they play?”

C: “Well it’s hard to describe…a little bit of everything? One minute it’s the Beatles, then it’s Pearl Jam, then new music. You might like it.”

Me: “New music?? It’s not Justin Bieber, is it?”

C: “Oh my god John, stop it. I’ll put it on, you’ll probably like it.”

Me: “Okaayyyy”

In case you’re wondering, the above conversation is fairly typical.

Anyway, she put it on…and she was 100% right about the format. They actually did play a Pearl Jam song, some Hendrix, and I remember some 10,000 Maniacs and Elvis Costello thrown in there. I was enjoying this. Some of the new music I recognized, but not much. Then about halfway home, I heard this beautiful guitar riff followed by this amazing, soulful voice...what was this?? And the words: "All my favorite colors, my sisters and my brothers, they see ‘em like no other…” There was a gospel choir singing backup during the chorus, and it had this wonderful funkiness to it. Best of all, it was uplifting and made you want to sing along. I looked at the dashboard: ”Colors” by Black Pumas. This was completely new to me. I asked Christine, “Do you know who these guys are?”, to which she replied, “Oh yeah, they play Black Pumas all the time.” Clearly, I was missing out. I had to hear the rest of this album, if there was one, and find out who Black Pumas were.

 Turns out Black Pumas were two guys from Austin, Texas: songwriter/producer/guitarist Adrian Quesada, and guitarist/singer Eric Burton. Quesada, 13 years older than Burton, had written new songs rooted in funk and R&B, and was looking for a new collaborator. In 2018, at the urging of a friend, he reached out to Burton, who had recently traveled through the southwest to Austin, Texas. When they finally got together in the studio, the chemistry was instant. Quesada’s influences of Latin rock, funk, hip-hop and metal were a perfect if not odd complement to Burton’s gospel and theater background. Quesada would recall about hearing Burton sing for the first time, “I didn’t even know that he had James Brown-level front man chops…” They would release their first single, “Black Moon Rising”, on Spotify, and their debut, Black Pumas, in 2019. Burton, who wrote “Colors”, wanted the song to sound like his times in church, so two gospel singers were added, as well as hand claps and an organ. That’s probably what I like so much about “Colors”, the way the song has a togetherness to it. I take the lyrics to mean that someone is trying to find their best self, and that those close to you, “my sisters and my brothers” are the ones who really see you for who you are, and those are the only people who matter. And when I heard the rest of the album, it reminded so much of the soul and R&B music my parents played when I was younger. There was one record in particular it reminded me of, “Cisco Kid”, by a funk band called War, that my dad used to play all the time. But I also heard Marvin Gaye, Prince, Isaac Hayes and Sly & The Family Stone when I listened to Black Pumas, all artists my parents played and that I heard on the radio in the 70s and 80s. It was new and a bit nostalgic all at once, and I found myself listening to the album on repeat when I was working or taking a walk around the neighborhood in lieu of working out at the gym. I found, at that time anyway, the album and these songs were exactly what could get me through those early pandemic days.

The Spectrum station on Sirius radio also ended up becoming a constant in the car and at home. After a few years of falling behind on new artists and music in general, I ended up discovering all these great new bands and singers: Leon Bridges, Mt. Joy, Nathaniel Rateliff, Lord Huron and dozens of others. And I got to hear other classic rock artists scattered in between. It may sound strange to think that a radio station and discovering Black Pumas would be this important, but during this time when things were anything but normal, I have to say it grounded me a little. Being able to get outside each weekend and just clear our heads was also instrumental in us staying healthy, and it gave us something to look forward to when we couldn’t socialize with anyone. Tuning the radio to The Spectrum gave us the soundtrack to those weekends and long days working at home. I suppose everyone had something that year made being isolated somewhat easier. Maybe you learned to bake bread, or knit, or maybe you learned to play guitar or did jigsaw puzzles or taught yourself how to build furniture; whatever you did to get you through that uncertain 2020, I hope it worked for you!

And here’s Black Pumas, performing “Colors” live in a studio session. It’s a bit longer than the release on the album, but it’s a performance with the full band.

Thanks again for stopping by! I can’t believe we’re 10 tracks in already! If you’re enjoying the posts tell your friends and sign up for email updates! 😊

Next time…a little quartet from Ireland provides the soundtrack as I enter college.

 P.S.

Black Pumas were nominated for Best New Artist at the 2020 Grammy Awards but lost to Billie Eilish (like pretty much everyone else that year). “Colors” was nominated for Record of the Year the following year, but again, lost to Billie Eilish (“Everything I Wanted”). They have performed on several morning shows, as well as The Tonight Show, Late Night with Seth Myers, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and when they’ve had the opportunity to tour the past two years, they regularly sell out. Their debut album has received universal critical acclaim, and “Colors” has been streamed over 100 million times across digital platforms. The album also comes in Deluxe Edition, which includes cover songs and live tracks. This past Christmas, I received the vinyl edition; it’s pressed in white vinyl, sounds amazing and is on a lot in our house. If you haven’t heard it, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in the last 10 years.

Christine and I listen to The Spectrum all the time, although I think I have it on more often! The combination of new and classic rock, and singer/songwriters just works for me, and I seriously hope they never change the format. DJs Mark Demos, Kristine Stone, Mark Hamilton, and Jenny Eliscu are all amazing and have regular shows throughout the day. In addition to programming and spinning the songs, they offer commentary and background on new music. Writer David Fricke and comic Dave Holmes also have their own spots during the week as well. Here’s the link to the station page. And here’s a Spotify playlist of some of my favorite new artists and songs that I’ve discovered the past two years on The Spectrum.

Lastly…I don’t want to make light of the past two plus years by saying that music and a radio station can solve what’s been a terrible time for a lot of people. I know the pandemic has taken its toll mentally and financially on people, and I think we all know someone who lost a loved one. But finding that thing or things that grounds you and gives you something to look forward to when things are uncertain and chaotic can make all the difference, and keep you healthy. I hope the past two years maybe helped you find what that “thing” was, and you keep it with you, even when things seem “certain.”

See you next time…

 JS

 5/10/2022