Funk music is no longer a genre limited to record-store-crate-diggers and those who who were introduced the the sound via underground routes. Over the past decade funk has blossomed and established firm roots deep in our musical fabric, and one of the fruits of the now fertile fields of funk is the band Lettuce. Offbeat recently caught up with the band’s lead guitar player and producer Eric Krasno while he was in New Orleans putting his finger on the funk in many different ways. In just the past few months Krasno has been in New Orleans producing The Motet’s new album, producing Aaron Neville’s new album, working on Soulive’s new album and playing Buku with the Pretty Lights live band. Although a Brooklyn resident, Krasno is an integral part of the funk explosion in New Orleans.

Krasno’s route to funk was not a direct one, but came through artists like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and The Grateful Dead. Even though those names don’t necessarily make you think of funk, Krasno gravitated towards certain songs that had funk elements in them and later on identified the common thread. “I don’t know how I found the Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters “Thrust” album, but I am so happy I did.” Shared Krasno. “I was just finding that album when I went to a Berklee summer program in 1992 and met the guys that would make up Lettuce.” Shortly after the Berklee summer program, one of Krasno’s friends in Vermont played him The Meters for the first time and it seems to have changed the game for him. Krasno shared, “I think I listened to The Meters non-stop for three months after first hearing them.”

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