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WXPN Welcomes The Suffers with The Ballroom Thieves

The Suffers are here to shake up the notion that theyre another soul revival band. Just as much influenced by classic rock & roll, country, Latin and Southern hip hop as they are the Stax/Volt or Muscle Shoals era, The Suffers are bringing a fresh approach to what they have coined Gulf Coast Soul. Late night legend David Letterman proclaimed in early 2015 "If you can't do this, get out of the business", let it be known that The Suffers are here to stay! With a year that included performances for NPRs Tiny Desk, Newport Folk Fest, Austin City Limits Music Festival and The Late Show, The Suffers have delivered over 150 stirring performances of their signature 3rd Coast Soul sound to thousands of new and old fans alike. The large ensemble packs each position of the rhythm and horn section with a level of talent and taste that provides the perfect foundation for singer Kam Franklin's massive voice. The band's sincerity and emotion are laid bare in their music, which has garnered an audience so broad and varied that they may prove to be the panacea for a jaded and stratified live music scene. Their 2016 self-titled debut album is a continuation of what 2015's Make Some Room EP started.

Life on the road is easily glamorized: the joy of playing shows, the wonder of new places, the stories. Yet the lifestyle is also a trying one: the suffocating isolation, the misery of being separated from loved ones, the unspoken tensions. If unprepared, this life can become your downfall. For Bostons The Ballroom Thieves, it became their sophomore album, Deadeye.

Owing to the success of their harmony-rich 2015 debut, A Wolf in the Doorway, guitarist Martin Earley, cellist Calin Peters, and drummer Devin Mauch have spent the last two years in a sustained state of touring that took them all across the country and to venerable stages like the Newport Folk Festival.

This engagement of THE SUFFERS is made possible through the Jazz Touring Network program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.