T odde F unk !
TOBYMAC’S FUNKY BASS PLAYER
[WM]
Tell
us
how
you
got
started
playing bass?
Reggie, Joseph and Rudy were on the gig. After
TobyMac gig?
the show and they just kicked my front teeth
in. I went up to them afterward to say it was [ToddeFunk!] Getting my name around,
[ToddeFunk!] I just remember, as a kid, a great show. The bass player Paul Chapman playing showcases. I ran into David “Ddubb”
seeing Jermaine Jackson on the Jackson 5 said, “Hey, did you live in Dallas, TX?” I said, Wyatt who was music director for one of
special. That Fender bass and bridge cover, “Yeah”. He said, “Did you play with a band TobyMac’s Gotee Recording artists, Out of
those chrome knobs and the tortoise shell pick called Prelude?” I said, “Yeah”. He said, “Man Eden. One of the girls’ husband had a brother-
guard with that coil cable he had going into I used to sneak in to see you guys play all the in-law that I was attending church services with
what was probably a Kustom amp. Just seeing time!” And that he turned to Joseph Wooten at the time and we connected so he was telling
him every week was so inspiring. We used to and he said, “Joseph if you ever need a bass them about me being new in town and a dope
watch Soul Train as well, checkin’ my heroes player man, call this guy.” And Joseph turned bass player. Dave Wyatt gave me a call about
like bassist Larry Graham for Sly & the Family around and looked, we shook hands, smiled some Out of Eden dates, So I started doing fill-
Stone playin’ that red Fender Jazz bass, it was and exchanged numbers. in dates with them, Dave and I became friends
as if the instrument just called me, man.
and he started having me do demo sessions
A couple months after that I found myself at his home studio and I started meeting more
The first song that really grabbed my attention moving to Nashville with my family and I gave people in the Gotee camp.
was Sly & the Family Stone’s “If You Want Joseph and Paul both phone calls and told Me to Stay”. Larry Graham’s articulation and them, “Hey man I’m here!” It took maybe about When Toby got to a point when he was
attitude… the first four bars of that tune got me a month or so and I got a call from Joseph auditioning bass players for his solo career,
and I was done. because all the top bass players they used on “Ddubb” gave me a call. He said, “Hey man,
the legendary Wooten Wednesday night at 3rd do you want to audition for Toby? He’s doing
[WM] How long was it from the time you and Lindsley were out on their big gigs, it was his own thing and he’s looking for a bass
were already playing as a pro musician until summertime and there was nobody holding player.” Dave told me he thought I might be a
you landed the TobyMac gig? How did that down the fort in Nashville. So I got the call. good fit. So I auditioned. I felt really good and
come about?
confident about my audition. I think the songs
I’m no Victor Wooten, but it just so happened included “Colored People”, “Love is a Verb”,
[ToddeFunk!] That was around 2000, just that I knew the majority of the songs they were “Jesus Freak”, and there might have been one
after the millennium. I had moved to Nashville playing because I had been playing in clubs other song. At that time, unfortunately, I didn’t
in 98’ and it was probably around late spring too. A lot of those funk and R&B covers are get the gig. Dave called me and told me that
or summer because I got to town and hit the standards. You just knew those songs. You had they thought I had a really good audition, but
ground running. I was recommended by Paul to know them. So it was a perfect fit and I really that they went with a guy named Tony Lucedo,
Chapman who was playing with the Wooten enjoyed playing with Reg, Rudy and Joseph, he’s a great bass player and he’s doing a lot
Brothers. I saw them at 3rd and Lindsley they taught me a lot. JD Blair played drums of sessions here in town now. Tony had been
on a Wednesday night while I was in town with us a lot of times, and Raymond Massie around the Toby camp, so they just went
recording a live record that featured some well- and on occasion Derrico Watson would be with him.
established music heavies like Chris Rodriguez, on the throne… all of which are phenomenal Gene Miller and Lincoln Brewster on guitar. drummers. I learned so much, it was amazing. I went and saw the Wooten Brothers, I believe [WM]
Fortunate for me Jennifer Knapp had just
started taking off real big and Tony went to her
How
October 2019
did
that
lead
up
to
the
and left the bass chair open, I got a call from
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