collaborating across
generations
My grandfather, Luke Funk, moved through his life with music ever on his lips. I can still hear the gentle gravel of his aging tenor voice humming or singing tunes of bygone days, some of which he wrote himself. In 2024, I had the special privilege of collaborating with family members to create and record new arrangements of two of his songs, one of which he co-wrote with his brother, Paul. I have treasured this opportunity to breathe new life into these nostalgic pieces. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. -Robbie
Watch
Music Video
There's a Place for You And Me
(Back Home in Indiana)
Music & Lyrics by Luke Funk and Paul Funk
Music Video
Your Eyes Are Blue
(And I Love You)
Music & Lyrics by Luke Funk
A documentary of the creation and reimagining of these songs is coming soon!
The Story
In 1944, the two youngest brothers in a northern Indiana farm family of 13 had no idea they were creating a musical legacy that would involve three generations of family in Indiana and New Jersey. What they did know was that they had musical abilities (despite being isolated near the tiny town of Earl Park, Indiana) and that they loved their home state.
Luke Funk
Paul Funk
Luke Funk was around 21 years old, working regularly on their Benton County farm and on the cusp of enlisting in the Navy during WWII when he imagined lyrics and a flowing melody for a song about Indiana. He had never had a day of formal musical training in his life. In contrast, his 24 year-old brother Paul had received extensive formal training in classical piano from Indiana University and under Rudolph Ganz of the Chicago Musical College.
Original arrangement
Original arrangement
That year, they created the song “There’s a Place for You & Me” (Back Home in Indiana).” Luke sang the melody and lyrics to Paul, who then went on to create a classic 1940’s-sound piano accompaniment. The next year, Luke also wrote the song “Your Eyes are Blue.” Both were recorded in 1945 by Edna Odell, a popular singer and radio performer in the Midwest known as “The Hoosier Songbird.”
Edna Odell, 1936
The trajectory for these great songs pretty much ended there, as following his Naval service, Luke went on to work in the family business, take some college courses, and then marry Patty Stapleton of Indianapolis. They raised four children together and Luke had a lifelong, busy career in seed corn sales throughout every nook and cranny of his beloved Indiana.
Luke Funk, circa 1950s
Paul Funk entertaining guests at Funk's Lodge in northern MI. Circa 1950s.
Although Paul had trained to perform the concert piano circuit, his ultimate destiny was to enrich the lives of locals with his expert piano and organ playing - an unexpected jewel in an area known more for its fertile farm fields than for artistic endeavors. For the next seven decades, the songs were sung only by Luke around the house and in his car until his family resurrected them and sang them at his 90th birthday party.
Luke Funk singing at his 90th birthday party, 2013
Luke Funk surrounded by family at his 90th birthday party, 2013
Funk family members singing "There's a Place for You and Me (Back Home in Indiana)" for Luke Funk at his 90th birthday party, 2013
Paul died at the age of 53 in 1974 and Luke at the age of 92 in 2015, so Luke and Paul’s ideas and inspiration for these songs are interesting to contemplate. Luke never said much about them. One can surmise from the heartfelt lyrics and sense of longing they evoke, that Luke was imagining serving overseas and dreaming of home and a blue-eyed sweetheart. He HADN'T served overseas yet, and blue-eyed Patty Stapleton HADN'T come into his life yet, but he was definitely imagining all of that.
Paul and Luke with their siblings and parents, Edward J. and Jenny, in front of their farmhouse in Earl Park, Indiana
About the songs themselves: “There’s a Place for You & Me” is in the tradition of songs expressing love and nostalgia for Indiana. As with “On the Banks of the Wabash” (1897) and “Back Home Again in Indiana” (1917), Luke and Paul’s song evoke innocent and dreamy imagery of the Wabash River and the feelings that Indiana engenders. In that song, see if you can identify two snippets in the string section that harken back to mid-century Americana. In “Your Eyes are Blue” Luke was somehow clairvoyant, as his future wife Patty indeed has blue eyes!
Patricia (Stapleton) Funk, circa 1944
In late 2023, the existence of these songs was casually mentioned to Steve Perillo of New Jersey. Steve is the son of the late Kathleen Perillo (Funk), Luke and Paul’s youngest sister. Like Paul, Steve was formally trained in classical music composition. Like their dad Luke, Tom and Jim both eschewed formal musical training and taught themselves electric bass and acoustic guitar, respectively.
Jim Funk
Steve Perillo (Photo for New Jersey Monthly by Brad Trent)
Tom Funk
After hearing the 1945 recording and studying the musical scores, Steve immediately thought the songs needed to be explored, rearranged and recorded. Steve’s idea spoke to Jim and Tom as well as Robbie Steiner, Luke’s grandson, a talented singer with extensive musical theatre experience. They resolved to bring these songs back to life to be enjoyed again, and to transport the listener back to 1940’s-style family singing and closeness.
Robbie Steiner
Steve soon wrote updated and expanded piano arrangements for both songs and plans were made to formally record and release them to the world. So, 80 years later, at their first rehearsal in the music room of a Benedictine monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana (where Luke, Paul and Kathleen’s niece Sister Meg Funk has served since 1961) the group realized that lightning had struck and this musical resurrection was going to work.
Steve reviewing the new arrangements during rehearsal
Tom & Robbie rehearsing at Our Lady of Grace monastery
Tom and Jim rehearsing
The songs were recorded in Louisville, Kentucky over a three day period in the spring of 2024 with Steve Perillo on piano, Robbie Steiner on vocals, Tom Funk on electric bass and Jim Funk on acoustic guitar and with production credits. And just like that, we now have two previously-unknown songs from the World War II era, written by an inspired brotherly tandem that, with the help of their musical descendants, is a gift from Luke and Paul Funk.
Jim at DSL Studio
Jared Murray at DSL Studio
Jeff McAlister at DSL Studio
Tom & Steve at DSL Studio
Elizabeth Loos, Clay Smith, Maggie Owens, & Marc Christopher at DSL Studio
_edited.jpg)
Mike Baker at DSL Studio
Robbie at DSL Studio
Helen Bohannon at DSL Studio
Steve Perillo at DSL Studio
Upon the completion of the recordings, the team set out to create a music video for each piece. They collaborated with video engineer and producer, Noah Haler (the brother of Jim’s daughter in law). The music videos were shot on location by the Wabash River in Lafayette, Indiana and at the original Funk family farm in Earl Park, Indiana where Luke and Paul grew up. Interior shots were filmed inside the farmhouse itself, where Luke and Paul presumably wrote the two songs.
Robbie inside the farmhouse
Robbie on the farmhouse porch
Robbie inside the farmhouse
Jim & Noah outside the farmhouse
Outside the farmhouse
Robbie & Noah inside the farmhouse
It’s been a labor of love, done with a sense of historical significance and ancestral honor. Of course the music speaks for itself. Jim, Steve, Tom and Robbie all recognized that these were great songs that have a place in the pantheon of 1940’s-era music.
Steve, Robbie, Tom, & Jim at DSL Studio
What are the chances that these particular Funk descendants, some living in different states, would come together to continue the work of their ancestors? Paul, Luke, and Kathleen were particularly close as the three youngest siblings of their big farm family. Jim, Steve, Tom and Robbie are grateful to have pursued the opportunity to continue that relationship while bringing this music back to life.
Kathleen (Funk) Perillo
Funk family in the farmhouse dining room. Luke is positioned profile in the center, looking toward Paul and Kathleen on the right.
Luke and Paul Funk
In addition to the newly-recorded songs, on the CD version there are also some short bonus clips from the Edna O’Dell recordings, as well as Luke Funk himself singing a few bars of There’s a Place for You & Me at his 90th birthday party in 2013. We invite you to sit back, listen carefully, (and on a good set of speakers - never your mobile phone!) and take a nostalgic musical trip back to the 1940s with the Funk Family.
The Team
Music Recorded at
DSL STudio, Louisville, KY
Sound Recording Engineer
Mike Baker
Video Engineer & Producer
Noah Haler
Haleration Solutions LLC
Choir
Marc Christopher
Elizabeth Loos
Maggie Owens
Clay Smith
Violin
Helen Bohannon
Cello
Jared Murray
Percussion
Jeff McAlister
Special Thanks to
Edward Funk
Sr. Mary Margaret Funk
Sisters of St. Benedict, BeEch grove, IN
Patty (Stapleton) Funk
Tom & Cathy Hasser
Ann and Bob Steiner
Peggy Steiner
In Memory of
Luke Funk
Paul Funk
Kathleen (Funk) Perillo
For the legacy of music and family that they left us