Springtime has arrived, which means festival season is in full swing in Tallahassee. The Capital City is also the hometown of George Clinton, widely regarded as the Godfather of Funk and a force in shaping the sounds and directions of funk, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and beyond.
To celebrate and honor George Clinton’s 85th birthday, a new festival touches down in Tallahassee with the inaugural “P-Funk Festival: Let’s Take It To Tha Stage.” The Festival will honor the full scope of funk’s past, present, and future, bringing together original players, iconic alums, and contemporary artists that carry the funk legacy forward.
Headlining the event will be George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk), with Danny Bedrosian, who has been the group’s keyboardist for 23 years, a singer, and its music director.
A lineage of music
The melodic composition of Danny Bedrosian’s memories has always involved music. “[It’s] something that was formally a part of everyday life,” Bedrosian says. “Having grown up in a literal piano school.”
Bedrosian, a classically trained concert pianist and vocalist, was taught – along with his sisters – by his concert pianist and music educator parents, who ran a music school in New England. He’s now been playing and singing for over 41 years.
Bedrosian continues by saying that his parents taught piano professionally at home nearly every day of the week. “Kids and their parents, as well as adult students, were coming in and out of the house… basically all day into the night.” Yet that wasn’t the only way his parents influenced his life through music. At the local church, his parents were the choir director and pianist, with the family singing together in the choir.
Music runs in his entire family, as Bedrosian proudly states that he comes from a lineage of pianists, vocalists, fine artists, dancers, and even a couple of major league baseball players — all of whom require executing the right hit at the right time.
The historical musical experience of funk
Yet the notes that influenced Bedrosian’s life and led him to become involved with music when he grew up were the ones he first heard from P-Funk at around age 11. And that has led him to be involved in virtually every level of the music scene, locally, nationally, and globally.
“I have played over 5,000 shows with George Clinton and P-Funk on all six inhabited continents for the last two decades,” Bedrosian explains. Before the COVID-19 years, this would have had him spending 280+ days on the road a year. He has worked across countless areas of the music industry, including production and publishing, manufacturing, promotion, education, and more. “[It has] kept my work varied and interesting, to say the least.”
When asked to describe that influence and funk music in general, he takes a moment to ponder. “[Funk] is something that must be felt… [It’s] not the easiest thing to describe in words,” Bedrosian clarifies. And he would know, as he is also an award-winning author of books about P-Funk, including the 2025 book “Make My Funk the P-Funk.”
“The groove, the pocket, it is a particular feel, so entrenched in the African American historical musical experience,” he says. Bedrosian continues, elaborating that funk has permeated the popular forms of nearly every Western music genre today.
“There is not necessarily a ‘typical’ funk instrumentation complex; its formality functions only through the creative bounds of the people creating said music.”
Bedrosian continues by explaining that funk is older than most people realize and that its coexistence with the genres of Blues and Jazz has been understudied.
“Funk has enveloped so many corners of the musical spectrum that, again, it needs to be experienced to be understood,” he says, explaining the several evolutions that occurred with the examples of James Brown, Sly Stone, and, of course, George Clinton.
“Funk has been at the forefront of almost every subgenre of American music that has come about since, from Hip Hop and Punk, to Metal and Dance music, and on and on.”
Dance, groove, & grow with P-Funk Festival
Bedrosian has certainly been at the forefront of Tallahassee’s music scene for several years. He lists his current and long-running groups as Secret Army and Some Fierce.
He also has connections to local favorites like The Soular System and Chilled Monkey Brains, as well as to solo artists such as Teresa Jimenez and to the music departments at Florida State University (FSU) and Florida A&M University (FAMU).
“My most recent and most exciting project has been my involvement in the yearly Word of South Festival in Tallahassee, where I have curated shows featuring George Clinton (including this year), as well as book/music collaborations”
Bedrosian also goes onto say he will be at this year’s Word of South event through a comic book panel, listing his series “Sons of the Sun” a comic series he writes and draws for.
Before then, audiences will be able to experience his musical endeavors at the 1st Annual “P-Funk Festival: Let’s Take It To Tha Stage.”
When asked to describe the festival, Bedrosian recounts a special moment in the ever-growing, organic evolution of P-Funk and its celebration. “For the first time since the Greatest Funk on Earth Tour of 1981, the myriad of P-Funk side bands and special projects are coming together, along with, of course, the main group Parliament Funkadelic, for a massive declaration of P-Funk unity.”
When asked how it has been putting this Festival together, Bedrosian gives credit where it is due. “Most of the credit needs to go to George’s granddaughter and longtime tour manager La Shonda Clinton and her husband Jason Drennen,” he explains. “They have put in massive amounts of labor to make this unique festival take shape and come to light.”
The Festival will include countless ways for audiences to enjoy themselves. “There will be food, entertainment, vendors, merchandise from the bands involved… books, clothes, and much more.”
Bedrosian goes on to describe how important this festival is not only to the local audience but also to the countless people from around the world who come to Tallahassee for it.
“Many of the outside fans attending have never even been to Tallahassee before. This presents a special opportunity for Tallahassee’s ever-growing growth both inside and outside the community.”
So what should people expect? “Definitely be prepared to dance, groove, and have a good time,” says Bedrosian. “This is the most P-Funk one can get in a single day, just about anywhere. Don’t miss this fantastic, groundbreaking moment.”
If you go
What: The Inaugural P-Funk Festival: Let’s Take It To Tha Stage
When: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. April 11
Where: The Phipps Farm, 4300 N. Meridian Road
Cost: $100 – $400 | General Admission & VIP Backstage Meet & Greet Available
Details: pfunkfest.com
Samantha Sumler is the Marketing & Communications Manager for the Council on Culture & Arts. COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts and culture (tallahasseearts.org).
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Funk at the forefront with P-Funk keyboardist Danny Bedrosian
Reporting by Samantha Sumler, Council on Culture & Arts / Tallahassee Democrat
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