The Suffers do retro so, so right at a bustling show at Dallas' Kessler

Today's pop landscape is heavily populated with retro-soul bands of every size, style and color. But there's always room for another one as captivating as the Suffers.

Performing Friday night at the Kessler Theater, the nine-piece Houston band hit the stage pumped up like a sports team before a big game, arms thrust toward the heavens and shouting in unison to get the adrenaline flowing for battle. The troop's leader was Kam Franklin, a 28-year-old dynamo wearing a sparking neon-green dress and a gigawatt smile.

Her mezzo-soprano was every bit as luminous as her stage presence. More Aretha than Adele, Franklin's voice was as well suited for wild gospel-rock songs as it was for smoldering Otis Redding-style ballads like "Giver."

She was a manic performer, constantly mugging and dancing and motivating the crowd with pep talks and chants.

"What's our name?" she bellowed.

"The Suffers!!!" answered the near-capacity crowd.

"Where are we from?"

"Houston!!!"

Franklin settled down to explain the history of the group, which formed five years ago but stayed close to home except for the occasional out-of-town weekend gig. She called Dallas' Homegrown Festival one of the band's first big breaks.

A year ago, after landing a spot on The Late Show with David Letterman, the Suffers quit their day jobs "to chase that dream ... but it wasn't the easiest journey," she said.

She repeated that message in songs from the band's newly-released eponymous debut album, making sure to put the accent on the dream, not the struggle. Her fellow Suffers followed suit, avoiding the blue notes in favor of all things joyous.

They were at their best mixing soul with ska and reggae — fitting for a group that took its name from the 1978 Jamaican film Rockers — but the Suffers aced every style they tried, from a bebop sax solo to brassy New Orleans funk.

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Dallas singer-rapper Sam Lao — who opened the show — jokingly scolded her mix-master for pushing the tempo beyond her capabilities.

"Damn! I didn't do that much cardio at the gym this week," she said.

You'd have never known. In a blur of jagged beats, lickety-split raps and sensual dance moves, Lao put on a high-energy set of tunes from her new full-length debut SPCTRM.

Lao's dreamy singing voice often recalled Diana Ross in the 1970s. But the set's high point, "Be Cool," paid tribute to another soul diva, Erykah Badu, as Lao purred "I wanna be like Badu, Badu, Badu" until it became a universal mantra.

Thor Christensen is a Dallas writer and critic.