Bootsy Collins was the special guest at Music Will's annual Modern Band Summit at Colorado State University in Fort Collins on 7/12. The prodigious Parliament-Funkadelic bassist sauntered through the Lory Student Center wearing a star-studded top hat and his signature shades, looking every bit the music icon he is. Joined by his wife Patti, Bootsy was there on a mission: to educate and inspire the next generation.

Music Will, formerly Little Kids Rock, was founded in 2002 by Dave Wish. Since then, the nonprofit organization has provided more than 100k instruments to 1.2m students across 6k schools in 928 school districts. Bootsy, who was asked to visit a school in New Jersey nearly a decade ago, was so moved by his experience with Music Will, he got intimately involved.

“When I saw those kids eyes light up, they were just on a vibe that I was used to when I was coming up,” Bootsy says. “I was used to being in a classroom with kids who were all there for the same purpose—to learn how to play. Everybody was just so excited. It just reminded me of myself and the way I came up. To see young kids into music and live instruments, that was a joy.”

Bootsy, a Cincinnati native, got his first taste of the limelight in the late '60s as a member of The Pacemakers. Along with his older brother, Phelps "Catfish" Collins, Bootsy eventually landed a gig playing for James Brown as part of his backing band, The J.B.'s. The stint was short-lived and he returned to Cincinnati, where he formed the House Guests with Catfish, Chicken Gunnels, Rob McCollough and Kash Waddy. In 1972, the House Guests joined Funkadelic alongside its kaleidoscopic frontman, George Clinton, and appeared on the group's fourth studio album, American Eats Its Young, the same year.

While there was plenty of debauchery (we’ve all heard the stories), playing music gave Bootsy his sense of purpose and kept him youthful.

"I can always go to music when I can't go nowhere else,” he says. "It’s like agape love. It's unconditional. Music accepts you no matter how many bad things and it will always embrace you. That's the way I want to live my life. I want to live my life not just being a musician or sharing music. I want people to embrace the hope of being able to just love and embrace each other no matter what's going on—none of that affects the embrace of true unconditional love.”

That essentially sums up Funk Not Fight, Bootsy and Patti’s initiative to encourage burgeoning talent to promote a message of peace, love and non-violence through the power of music.

"That’s where we're going with Funk Not Fight—it starts with the music," he adds. "We got to build from there to get people to see the complete vision. Music is a vehicle, and it's the most beautiful vehicle in the world."

Bootsy released a single called "Funk Not Fight" f/Baby Triggy and Fantaazma in May, which is part of a new compilation series of the same name. The accompanying video boasted appearances by bassist Marcus Miller, the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, Buckethead and Victor Wooten, among others. It's the first step to spreading his Funk Not Fight ethos.

“There’s two sides of it—what is our purpose?” he asks. “I can say my purpose was to come here, play music, make people happy and that's it. But it's deeper than that. We have to take whatever our gifts are and give them away without expecting anything. Music allows me to do that. Ever since I started, I was able to do that.

"Just to see a smile on somebody's face from me picking it up and trying to play something, I have joy about that and feel good about what I'm doing. It rubs off on people. In my experience, I've seen that time and time again. Now I'm seeing it with a whole new generation. There are some kids keeping it alive and giving us hope. We just get so much of the other crap that it outweighs the good stuff. It’s our duty to try to help reverse that—not that we're going to save the world with Funk Not Fight, but we gotta let them know.”

Watch the "Funk Not Fight" video below and find more information on Music Will here. As for us, we know one thing music will do—and that's keep us employed (hopefully).

Featured image photo credit: Jim Mimna. The black-and-white photo and photo of Bootsy and Patti were taken by Kyle Eustice.