Chris Funk

Born:: We're not sure when - tell us? (it's easy)
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Snapshot:: A member of 2 groups, and credited once on others' music. 1 collaboration.

Chris Funk is a multi-instrumentalist and member of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock band The Decemberists. He is originally from Valparaiso, Indiana where he worked at Front Porch Music which inspired his love of American Folk Music. He plays guitar, pedal steel, piano, violin, dobro, hurdy gurdy, mandolin, saxophone, the theremin and many other instruments. Funk joined the band after attendance at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After the trailer with all their equipment and merchandise was stolen in 2005, Funk wrote "This Machine Kills Thieves" on his banjo, in reference to Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.

He has a group called Knock-knock with DJ Rev (from the hip-hop group Lifesavas on Quannum Projects). He also has a string band called Black Prairie with two of The Decemberists and two other members who will release a record on Sugar Hill in 2010. He also plays in the country rock group Blue Giant. He has produced records for The Builders and The Butchers, Langhorne Slim, Y La Bamba, and Red Fang.

He curated the Portland edition of Burn to Shine, a DVD to be released later in 2006.

On December 20, 2006, Funk appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to end a longstanding feud with the show's host, Stephen Colbert. A contest ensued in which Funk and Colbert would each shred guitar while a panel of judges decided the winner. After Funk's solo, Colbert hurt his hand and asked Peter Frampton to fill in for him. The contest ended with Colbert/Frampton deciding the winner and Colbert was awarded The Crane Wife by The Decemberists as the grand prize. Funk then performed an "all-guitar jam" alongside Frampton, Robert Schneider (of The Apples in Stereo), and Rick Nielsen.

He lives in the Mississippi area of Portland, with his girlfriend Seann McKeel and daughter Scout Fahey Funk who was named after the book To Kill A Mockingbird and guitarist John Fahey.

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