Bootsy Collins on New Song ‘The JB’s Tribute Pastor P’
The funk legend discusses his new track that celebrates Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jabo” Starks, which will appear on his LP, "Album of the Year #1 Funkateer."
Bootsy Collins has released “The JB’s Tribute Pastor P,” his new single that honors Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jabo” Starks, two influential drummers and his former James Brown bandmates, who passed away in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
The funky tune includes a fiery verse from viral rapper Harry Mack, with former J.B.’s member Fred Wesley on trombone, Daru Jones on drums, and Collins, of course, handling the bass.
Collins’ admiration for Starks and Stubblefield traces back to before he, as well as his older brother Catfish Collins, became an original member of The J.B.’s, the Godfather of Soul’s backup band, which also played on his classics like “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” and “Super Bad.”
“I met them before I even got with the James Brown Revue. They used to come to King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio, to record with James Brown,” Bootsy Collins recalls to Rated R&B. At that time, Collins and his brother were members of their own local funk band, The Pacemakers. “As band members, we like to hang, so it was a thrill to meet them,” he continues.
“We wasn’t playing with them yet. When they came out on their smoke breaks, we couldn’t get in the studio. If you wasn’t with James Brown, you couldn’t come in. So we used to just hang and wait on the boys to come out because they were our superheroes. The musicians with James Brown had such class and everything we wanted to be.”
Collins would soon be standing alongside his musical superheroes. In March 1970, Brown hired The Pacemakers last-minute to play at a show in Columbus, Georgia, after firing his backing band when they threatened to quit over a pay dispute. Collins would spend the next 11 months with Brown as a member of The J.B.’s.
“Standing there playing bass between Jabo and Clyde, words can’t even describe that,” says Collins. “James Brown was the leader and the star of the show, but for me, just standing there with them was phenomenal.”
“The JB’s Tribute Pastor P” is not only a celebration of Stubblefield and Starks as his former bandmates but also speaks to their respective impact on music. Stubblefield was known for his iconic drum break on Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” which became widely sampled in hip-hop and R&B. Likewise, Starks’ drumming groove on James Brown’s songs like “The Payback” has been sampled in hundreds of songs.
“So many people sampled their stuff and they never got paid for any of that,” says Collins, which is why Starks and Stubblefield are credited on “The JB’s Tribute Pastor P.” “Anytime I get in a position to give back or share love for them, I do it, and that’s this time now. I started feeling like they both were gone and it’s like they never got what they deserved. I was hoping that this would be a little piece back for them and all of The J.B.’s that were there that didn’t really get recognition.”
“The JB’s Tribute Pastor P,” which arrived a day before Collins’ 73rd birthday (Oct. 26), is the fourth single from his Album of the Year #1 Funkateer. It follows “The Influencers” (featuring Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Dave Stewart, Fantaazma, and Westcoast Stone), “Pure Perfection” and the title track.
Album of the Year #1 Funkateer will release in 2025 via Roc Nation Distribution and Bootzilla Records.
Below, Bootsy Collins talks more about making “The JB’s Tribute Pastor P,” his memories of John “Jabo” Starks and Clyde Stubblefield, and more.
Is there anything you learned from Jabo and Clyde from your time with The J.B.’s?
One thing I’ve learned is they have a distinct signature, meaning nobody plays like them. Clyde has a distinctive fire to his way of playing. Nobody sounds like Clyde but him. Back in the day, he was just having fun with it. He didn’t know he had created something that people would sample for years. Jabo, he was like the King of New Jack Swing. You know that new jack beat? Well, that’s Jabo’s beat. People have no idea that that’s where that came from. And so it’s like I was there in the middle of those cats growing and learning because that’s where I learned how to play drums, by watching them.
“The JB’s Tribute Pastor P” back cover. (Bootzilla Records)
On “The JB’s Tribute Pastor P,” you collaborated with former J.B.’s member and trombonist Fred Wesley, drummer Daru Jones and viral rap act Harry Mack. How did it all come together and what does it mean for you to have them on this song?
It kind of fell together the way funk usually does. I didn’t know Daru Jones knew how to play Clyde’s and Jabo’s beat until he came to Cincinnati one week when he was performing and wanted to see King Records. Of course, King Records is not there anymore. We’re restoring it now. He just wanted to go inside and play drums where Jabo and Clyde played. We showed him where the spot was at. He went over there, took his drum set, and just played drums. When I heard the sound of it, I had an instant flashback like, “Wow, this sounds just like Clyde and Jabo, and he’s doing it in the room where they would record.” So that sparked, “I got to do this tribute to them now because it’s so right.”
Once I got the drums recorded, I started playing on top of the bass. I got Ella Feingold to play guitar, which she knows how to play Catfish’s lines up and down. When I got that on there, it was like, “All I need now is Fred to put the horns together.” I got in touch with Fred Wesley, and we put the horns together. Next thing you know, we had a record. Harry Mack, that was out of the clear blue. I was trying to think of somebody who knew the history of The J.B.’s, Clyde, and Jabo. One day, I saw him on TV, and I said to myself, “He’s the dude.” We got in touch and everything. I didn’t know to what depth he was with Clyde and Jabo until he did his rap on the song. So once he did his rap, I was like, “Oh man, this is so on it.” That’s how the funk works. A lot of times, you don’t know how it’s going to come out, and you just go for it. That’s what I did with this record.
“The JB’s Tribute Pastor P” will appear on your 23rd album, Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, which releases in spring 2025. What was your creative mindset for this project? I had been feeling that even though I hadn’t put all the songs together, it felt so right to me. I said to myself, “If I don’t say it, maybe nobody else will.” So, I speak for the whole community. I said, “This is the album of the year.” When I said I was the Player of the Year back in 1978 [on my album Bootsy? Player of the Year], the community got with me and was all behind it. So I did that same kind of movement with this [album]. The people don’t know it yet, but it is the album of the year, regardless of what anybody’s saying. That’s a good feeling when you got people behind you holding up the funk stain banner. Even when the masses don’t agree with you, it is a great feeling to have some people — your people — behind you regardless.
Bootsy Collins. (Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Smith )
Could you talk more about the importance of community within the world of funk?
With me, it’s always about the community because of where I came from. I came out from the community and I can never forget what we’ve done together. All of that goes and blends right into the music. It’s in me to be the community, even if the community is not there physically at the same time. They’re always there when I’m there because it’s a part of me. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get rid of it. I think with the years coming on, it’s more evident even now. Each year that I grow, it comes out more and more. To me, that’s the community and the funk that we all grew up in and came through. A lot of us are still funking and it’s a beautiful thing. I am able to give it back to the people who were rooting for me all the time.
What impression do you want to leave with listeners for Album of the Year #1 Funkateer? I hope they realize that it don’t matter how different you are perceived. It don’t matter what you choose to do in life, as long as you put all of you into it. That is what I think this record represents, not just from me as a musician but how I put a community of musicians together. Regardless of how the new school is doing it today, I’m able to share how we used to do it back in the day and feel good about that. If you’re a young musician or artist coming up and if you’re locked into that old-school vibe, don’t be afraid to share it. As long as you are doing what you feel good doing, that’s what really counts.
I want this music to show that regardless of what you’re feeling, just do your thing the way you want to do it and don’t be scared. You never know who’s watching you. You never know who’s needing your light to guide them. When I was coming up, I didn’t know people were watching me like that. I’m out here trying to learn and I come to find out, it was a lot of people watching me and learning stuff that I wasn’t really trying to teach. I was trying to be taught myself. But that’s the way the funk works, and it works on your behalf if you let it.
Stream Bootsy Collins’ new song “The JB’s Tribute Pastor P” below.
