Bootsy Collins is a legend in the world of funk. He's a bassist who came to his instrument by happenstance and fell in love. He was only in his teens when he was discovered and hired by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, to be part of his backing band known as The J.B.'s. Bootsy went on to play with another notoriously inventive and pioneering funk artist, George Clinton, as part of Funkadelic and Parliament.

He continued the funk with Bootsy's Rubber Band and a number of other musical collaborations. He recently released a new album, Tha Funk Capitol Of The World, and he currently teaches bass at his own Funk University.

Bootsy talks to us about being on the forefront of funk, playing with James Brown, doing LSD on stage, quitting and/or being fired from the JB's, joining up with the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, and his own amazing solo career.

Known as The Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown created a new take on funk music in the 1970s with strong dance beats and an infectious spirit. His early hits as a guitarist and singer included "I Need Some Money" and "Bustin' Loose". He's a local legend in Washington, D.C., where go-go originated.

His new 3-disc CD/DVD set We Got This includes his first Grammy nominated song, "Love", recorded with Jill Scott and Marcus Miller.

He spoke to us about a song he considers very influential -- "Mister Magic" by the jazz-funk musician Grover Washington.

Another segment from The Grid: a little piece I wrote recommending Knitting Factory's re-issues of some of Fela Kuti's amazing mid-70s albums. Some cool archival footage in there of Fela, too.

RIP to Gap Band founder and bassist Robert Wilson. He was 53.

A few years ago, I interviewed Betty Davis. In the 1970s, Davis was the wife of Miles Davis and a talented and accomplished musician in her own right. Her funk records were a bit short on vocal melody, but jam-packed with amazing grooves and raw themes. Her band featured the best funk players in the world. She was also spectacularly good looking and prone to wearing wild stage outfits.

In the late 70s, she disappeared from the music scene, and was very nearly never heard from again. At one point, a fan tracked her down so she could get the tens of thousands of dollars in royalties that she was owed by ASCAP/BMI, but she hadn't spoken publicly, much less recorded, in 20 years.

Her discography was re-released by Light in the Attic Records in 2007. She did an interview with our friend Oliver Wang for the liner notes, but that was about it. I'm a huge fan, and the people at Light in the Attic love public radio, so after weeks of concerted effort, we got her to agree to an interview with The Sound. The conditions: she wouldn't go to a studio and I wouldn't call her directly.

Our interview with Ms. Davis is one of our most popular - I think because Ms. Davis has so many fans desperate for a scrap of information about her life and career.The final interview, I think, came out pretty well. It has lots of her great music livening things up, and lots and lots of interview editing.

Since folks always ask me about this interview, I thought I'd share with you the raw audio of our conversation. Understand that the amount of editing that went into this show is very atypical - all TSOYA interviews don't sound like this in raw form. Just this one. Undoubtedly the most difficult interview of my life.

This raw interview runs 38 minutes. I won't even begin to estimate what portion of that is awkward silence.

Download MP3

Holy shit!