Peter Funk

By Johnny Petersen 2020

Thecountryblues.com was first introduced to Peter Funk by the famous German photographer, blues historian and producer Axel Küstner, who documented the American blues scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Küstner considered Funk to be one of the best slide players in Europe, and with good reason.

Peter Funk lives in the city of Göttingen, in Northern Germany. A fiery blues player and master of the lapsteel slide guitar, he carries on the acoustic blues traditions with just the right combination of skill and passion. Any music writer would want to say that he plays some really “Funky deep blues,” but however true, that would be a cheap trick. Suffice that Peter Funk deserves a place at the table with the best, and surely, he is worthy of more recognition as a truly excellent musician. He has made a major contribution to the vibrant German acoustic blues scene and he respects and honors the African American traditions from where this music derives. One reason why he is not internationally known is that he limits his touring to Germany, as he holds a day job as an IT-tech besides his musical career. This he has in common with another acoustic blues virtuoso, the American guitarist Ari Eisinger, who also relies on his main income as a programmer. There is great merit in having steady bread and butter, especially in these pandemic times. The guitarist is most modest about his work, “I am not good at self-publicity. So, I can be cool about that, by not having the dependency.”

Born in 1966, he began playing guitar at around 12 years old in his school’s music class. At the same time, he was singing in the church choir. It took only three years until he had formed his first band, an acoustic duo with his brother Tim on harmonica, largely inspired by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee and Cephas and Wiggins. “When we were 15 and 16 years old, my brother and I got a hold of the album that was produced by Axel Küstner, Original Field Recordings – Vol.1 Living Country Blues USA- Bowling Green John Cephas and Harmonica Phil Wiggins. My brother and I used to go to the big city to the record store to look for old blues. That’s where we found that album. We learned the whole record, from beginning to end and emulated it. My brother played harmonica and I played guitar and our first concert was to perform those songs. Now, my brother and I are now back around to reform our duo. We started 40 years ago and over the last three years we have reformed.”

He also played in an electric band in the tradition of great blues artists such as Muddy Waters and Canned Heat, and another band focused on Southern Rock. As an adult, he formed two bluegrass bands, The Front Porch Pickers, a band that still is pickin’, both Hawaiian style music and Western Swing.

Hawaiian music came naturally when he learned to play lapsteel and Weissenborn guitars, the guitar style that has led him to fame as a virtuoso. The Weissenborn, being a favorite instrument, turned out to be the perfect instrument for other musical styles as well, for example, he plays the theme song to the movie “The Titanic.”

Nowadays, Peter Funk is playing alternatively with The Front Porch Pickers, as again in a duo with his brother Tim Funk. He has played in various constellations with names such as Herbert Wegener, Ian Melrose, Bob Bonastre, Klaus Weiland, Ulli Bögershausen and Kevin Yost.

 The electric days are long gone and now Peter is fully focused on the acoustic sound, so hard core that he never uses a pick-up in his guitars. Peter thinks the guitar sounds more accurate with a good microphone in front of it. He is playing some really old high-class guitars and don’t want to distort them by adding pick-ups, an operation where one usually has to drill holes in the instrument. Here’ an impressive list over his darlings:

– National Style 0 Roundneck 1932
– National Tricone Squareneck 1928
– National Lapsteel Electro 1935
– Weissenborn Hawaiian Guitar 1925
– Rickenbacher B6 Lapsteel 1948
– Fender Stringmaster Lapsteel 1953

There are not very many people playing blues lap-style nowadays, as most blues slide players play upright with a finger slide, a style that Funk also masters. Kelly Joe Phelps, Ed Gerhard, Martin Harley, Pat Agius, come to mind as some of the fine practitioners of this sub-genre. Funk acknowledges, “It’s a little bit unusual here in Germany, for people to play lap style. I started out on slide guitar and went over to the Dobro to play Hawaiian, and from there moved to other traditions.” Influenced by Hawaiian players like Sol Hoopie and versatile stylists like Jerry Douglas, Funk carries on a versatile repertoire.

Besides the various guitars he also masters the ukulele, the autoharp and the harmonica. When thecountryblues.com called him up he reported that in the coming Sunday he will perform with a couple of guitars with pick-ups, due to practical reasons. He didn’t seem overjoyed by the idea.

Over the years, Peter Funk has recorded a number of CDs, both in EP format and full length, solo as well as with others. His latest recording is a 12” LP, “From Maui to Memphis”, a title that well describes his great span in music. He is also the author of various instruction book, mainly in German but one in English, published by the renowned Mel Bay.

Given the question on what contemporary artist he would like to invite to perform together with, his direct answer is, “Taj Mahal.” To Peter, Taj Mahal embodies the heart of acoustic and resonator guitar music as he also plays indigenous music, Hawaiian as well as Carribean, besides the blues.