Founded in 2011 by Adam Castaneda (bass) and featuring Pat Kelly (vocals, keyboard), Jon Durbin (trumpet), Michael Razo (trombone), Kevin Bernier (guitar), Jose “Chapy” Luna (percussion), Nick Zamora (vocals, drums), Cory Wilson (saxophone), Alex Zamora (vocals, guitar), and Kam Franklin (vocals), the Houston, TX-based dectet The Suffers are part of a retro soul music renaissance and resurgence that began in the late 90s/early 00s with Daptone Records – most notably with the utterly fantastic Sharon Jones and her Dap Kings and has continued with an incredibly diverse array of regionally-known, nationally known and internationally-based acts. And in a similar fashion, The Suffers have seen their profile grow exponentially – naturally, they began packing venues in their hometown and have won 11 Houston Press Music Awards over the last three years. As a result, they’ve played regional festivals such as Voodoo Music and Arts Experience in 2014, Dallas’ Index and Homegrown Festivals, Houston’s Free Press Summer Festival, Untapped Festival, as well as nationally renowned festivals – CMJ and SXSW. They also opened for Lee Fields and the Expressions at Big D NYE, the largest New Year’s Eve celebration in the Central Time Zone. 

With the recent release of their Make Some Room EP, this year looks to be a huge year as they’re already embarking on a rather busy national touring schedule, which will include festival sets at Hangout Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Neon Desert Music Festival. The dectet, recently made their national television debut on Late Show with David Letterman with EP single “Gwan.” And from the video footage, frontperson Kam Franklin is a dynamic, charismatic presence, who is set to be a superstar – and the woman, whose vocals bear a bit of a resemblance to both Sharon Jones and Chaka Khan, can just sing her ass off. backed by a band who will make you want to get up and dance. It shouldn’t be a surprise that you’ll be hearing a lot about them over the next few months.