Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1953, Pat Ramsey began playing the harmonica at the age of 17. After a couple of years honing his chops while hitchhiking around the US, Pat joined the Bunny Brooks Band in Denver (an offshoot of the 60's band, Jam Factory) in 1973.
In 1978, he impressed Rick Derringer, who told Johnny Winter of this "long haired kid in Denver" who played a mean harp! Johnny liked what he heard so much that he hired Pat to play all the harp parts on the album "White Hot and Blue".
In late 1978, Pat met Butch Trucks of Allman Brothers fame. After a couple of sizzling jams in Colorado with Butch and his band, Trucks, Pat signed on, and made the long move to Tallahassee, Florida. When the Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1979, Butch disbanded Trucks and introduced Pat to a local Tallahassee band called Crosscut Saw.
Julien Kasper, a seventeen year old guitar prodigy and Pat became partners and the band quickly thinned from seven to four when they decided to take the band on the road. In the next five years, Pat and Crosscut Saw played every Juke Joint and Roadhouse from Key West to Connecticut. They opened for B.B. King (twice), Johnny Winter, Johnny Van Zandt, .38 Special, Bobby Bland, The Nighthawks, and others. Before disbanding, Crosscut Saw released their album "Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know". Crosscut Saw's annual reunions are still one of Tallahassee's top draws!
In 1985, the Pat Ramsey Band was formed when Julien opted to study Jazz at the graduate level. They opened for many notables as well, including a seven-city tour of Florida (in 1987) with his old friend Johnny Winter.
Pat moved to Sarasota, Florida, in 1991, to play with his friend from the Freddie King band, guitarist Greg Poulos. The Poulos-Ramsey Band was born. Within months they were opening for acts like Charlie Musselwhite, Solomon Burke, Albert Collins, Ronnie Earl, James Cotton, and Pinetop Perkins. Jerry Wexler hailed them as "Sarasota's ONLY Blues Band"! Two years later, they were ready to make the jump to Memphis, TN. Alas, while Pat was busy scouting gigs in Memphis, tragedy struck Greg's family in Florida, bringing a premature end to this endeavor.
A new face in a new city, Pat began dealing craps in a casino on the muddy Mississippi River, an hour south of Memphis. Jamming on Beale Street on his days off, Pat was quickly accepted by local musicians and was hired to play at "Blues City Cafe" as part of the house band. Living out of a trailer in a nearby fish camp, Pat scrimped and saved for the next two years.
With the help of his old friend Julien Kasper (now PROFESSOR Julien Kasper at Berklee College of Music, Boston) and some of the best local Memphis musicians, Pat produced the aptly titled CD "Its About Time". The CD received very strong reviews and Pat began touring once again. Pat's stellar live performances with The Blues Disciples produced the live CD's, "Live at the Grand", and "Live at the Big Bend Blues Bash" and the posthumously released "Live in Key West".
Pat passed away on Nov. 17, 2008 but his music lives on and he is remembered in the hearts of his family, friends and fans. ---------- The Iceman
Pat's Backup band with the Blues Disciples, Dave Renson on Guitar,and Eloise Davis on Bass, along with a great local drummer, live and play here in New Orleans as Major Bacon. They play every Wednesday night, late, at the Banks Street Bar. They are very harp friendly, and I often take out of town Harp players there to sit in.
@Ridge Thanks for the early clip of Pat, jeez he was so good!! Great band all round and thanks for the Bio Iceman
Last Edited by harmonicanick on Dec 09, 2015 11:29 AM
