Funk for your flow

Paul Caraher

Well now it looks like winter. And not only is there fresh powder on the trails but also some fresh sounds in the Coppertop on Sunday.

Guitarist Paul Caraher will make his ’Top debut with a 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. set on what will likely be a busy Sunday.

                               

Caraher is a member of Funkatronic, a band that fuses improvisational jams rooted in funk and jazz with electronic flourishes. And in his solo shows, Caraher tries to capture that same broad spirit.

To achieve what he describes as “Funkatronic craziness,” Caraher uses live looping and octave pedals to augment and manipulate his guitar sound. It’s a technique that fans of

Keller Williams or Wah regular Chris Reddy will recognize.

Caraher further stretches out with his repertoire.

“There are some original jams, and my jams run from bluegrass to funk,” he says. “And there’s a lot of songs people will recognize. I love the ’80s and have some Hall and Oates in there, and I have a bunch of ’90s stuff, like Sublime and Oasis.”

Caraher says he has always been all over the musical map, starting as a kid learning guitar in his native Nashville, where he practiced classical guitar and Randy Rhodes licks.

Caraher and his brother Justin, a drummer, moved to the Northeast for its music scene and made Providence a base of operations for Funkatronic and their other endeavors.

Caraher may be a jazz player at heart, but he also loves playing a strong, memorable melody, and will keep a popular song intact. At least until it comes time for a solo.

“That’s when I express myself,” he says.

Sort of like the way picking a line makes even the most familiar trails feel a little different every time.