DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – One doesn’t have to live in Dayton for long to learn that there’s funk within the city’s roots.
Between the Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center (also known as the Funk Center) that once stood on E Third Street and the Funk Mural on a street uncoincidentally called Land of Funk Way, one can only wonder where this connection with the rhythm-filled music genre began.
The founding father of funk
The story begins with James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul.”
Though he was most known for his gospel-inspired R&B from the 1950s to the 1960s, Brown’s music was beginning to shift towards something new…