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Bob Funk is a producer/guitar player currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has lived since the mid 1990s.
Originally from Saskatchewan, he graduated with a Jazz Performance major from Grant McEwen College in Edmonton, then took a left turn to pursue a career in Country music. “I know, it’s a little strange”, he says, “I do really love jazz, but wasn”t sure it was going to be a great career choice… and in the late 1980's, country music was enjoying a real artistic renaissance. The genre was incredibly healthy and diverse at that time, and since I grew up listening to and playing traditional country music, it seemed like a good fit.”
A friend from college recommended Bob for a touring job in 1987, and that led quickly to being hired by Patricia Conroy, who was starting to make a name for herself in the Vancouver country music scene. “I heard her sing and saw her unique talent and artistic focus and really thought that she had a bright future. Fortunately for me, I was right!”. Patricia has her own take on their first meeting… “I met Bob and heard him play and instantly knew he had to be part of my band. We’ve never looked back…”
Bob has toured and recorded with Conroy ever since. Along the way his work as a guitar player earned him a CCMA “All-Star Band- Guitar Player of the Year” award, and he also contributed to Patricia’s CCMA “Album of the Year” as a songwriter. “What Do You Care” (co-written with Bruce Miller) was one of the standout radio hits from her “Bad Day for Trains” album. Since 1998, Bob has also been Patricia’s producer, producing “Wild as the Wind” with engineer Rocky Schnaars, and more recently “Talking to Myself” with co-producer and long time friend Kevin Churko.
“I’ve been interested in music production and recording since I got my first 4 track tape machine when I was 14,” he says, “and that probably made it inevitable that I would gravitate towards the studio and producing…“
To date, Bob has either performed or recorded for a long list of great artists, both in Canada and the US, including, (in no particular order):
- Mackenzie Porter
- Bob and Clint Moffat( Like Strangers)
- Keith and Rene
- Mark Wills
- Ozzy Ozzbourne
- Billie Dean
- Beverley Mahood
- Rodney Atkins
- Pam Tillis
- John Berry
- Jimmy Rankin
- Amy Dalley
- Kristi Lee Cook
- Lisa Brokop
- Michelle Wright
- Duane Steele
- Corey Marquart
- One Horse Blue
- Dan Seals (England Dan and John Ford Coley)
- Jimmy Seals (Seals and Crofts)
- …and many more.
For the last few years Bob has been mostly focused on producing, including work with Beverley Mahood (on her hits “Can’t Outrun You”, “Hope and Gasoline”, and “Sunday I’m An Angel”), Mark Wills (The Night Ain”t Even Over Yet), and has just completed an album with up and coming Alberta country artist Trevor Panczak, to be released late summer 2017. Most recently, Bob has been in studio with Michelle Wright working on pre-production for her new project, and is looking forward to a great 2017…