Megan Coleman
Funky music is, among other things, party music. The rhythms and call-and-response aspect of soul move in tandem with changes taken from gospel music, itself a genre that allows listeners and players the chance to experience the exhilaration of salvation. James Brown’s abstraction of gospel pointed the way toward ’70s funk on 1967’s epochal release “Cold Sweat,” a record that stutter-steps toward the ecstasy that great parties can provide. For drummers and DJs Megan Coleman and Jon Radford, the idea of a dance party featuring soul, funk, boogie and hip-hop — and maybe a little disco thrown in for good measure — started to feel like a necessity over the past couple of very fraught years.
This week at The 5 Spot, Radford and Coleman bring their immense expertise to the stage for what they’re calling The Wednesday Beat. In fact, the show, which Radford says will run for the foreseeable future at the venue, sizes up to be a great party for dancers and listeners alike, with the two drummers trading DJ and drum duties and adding their beats to records that span the era that lies between the 1960s and the ’90s. Both Radford and Coleman are pros who have played in a variety of contexts, and they know the rich catalog of obscure and well-known records that constitutes something like a Funk Canon.
For Coleman, a Detroit native who grew up playing drums in church and at school before studying biology for a pre-nursing program and moving to Nashville in 2014, The Wednesday Beat is a continuation of what she’s been doing during her career. Along the way, Coleman attended a Bible college in Dallas and played in bands in Jordan, where she was studying Arabic and doing work for refugees in that country.
“I was already playing drums and playing music in worship teams for half of my life at that point,” she says about her early years. “But I really had no intention of doing music professionally by any means. I went to a mostly white Christian school [in Detroit], and I started playing at [a] Black church, got my wings at school, and then eventually started going to the church my school was connected to and started playing there more.”
Coleman began pursuing music in earnest a couple of years after she settled in Nashville. She’s done drum duties on the road with singer Jenny Lewis this year, and says she’s been recording and performing with Americana star Allison Russell. She’s also toured with blues-folk singer Yola.
Coleman’s varied experiences add up to the kind of mastery that funky musicians aspire to, right down to her stint playing in church. Meanwhile, Radford — a native of Clarksville, Tenn., who has made a name for himself in Nashville with post-country instrumental band Steelism, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors and, most recently, as a member of country singer Pam Tillis’ road band — extols the power of funky music as a corrective to the big, bad world we live in these days.
“The studio and session work, it’s all kind of going in and out of itself, if you know what I mean,” Radford says. He moved over the summer back to Clarksville, where he says he’s thriving in a medium-sized town that has its own music and cultural scene. “I don’t want the whole drumming thing to be the reason people come [to The Wednesday Beat],” he continues. “I want the music to be the main draw, but for Megan and me, the drumming is like walking and breathing and eating. It’s just gonna be a natural part of it.”
Radford, whose résumé also includes a well-executed turn on psych-rocker Robyn Hitchcock’s 2017 self-titled album, takes the tightened-up approach of drummers like Bernard Purdie and famed James Brown band members John “Jabo” Starks and Clyde Stubblefield as a first principle. He’s also a student of the great Southern rhythm sections, which include masters like Nashville-born session drummer Kenny Buttrey.
Radford says he and Coleman will refine the concept as they go along, but the idea is to make connections among, say, Stax grooves, James Brown, hip-hop and Afrobeat. Given their deep connection to Black American music, Radford and Coleman are making a statement about culture that is much needed right now. Records give you a picture of an event that came together through the exertions of committed musicians. What Coleman and Radford will play to augment — really, to comment upon — these works of art promises to expand our understanding of the impulses that power the records.
“The party is on Wednesday specifically to help you get through the week [and] to get you on the good groove, and to propel you to Saturday’s party,” Radford says. “I love disco, but we love James Brown, and we want to bring the two Fs to the party: funky and fabulous. We want to make sure everybody feels that way when they come to the throwdown.”
