Pat Ramsey

PAT RAMSEY (1953/Shreveport, LA – 2008.11.17) began playing harmonica at the age of 17. After a couple of years honing his chops while hitchhiking around the United States, Pat joined the Bunny Brooks Band in Denver 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 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, Pat signed on, and made the long move to Tallahassee, Florida. When the Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1979, Butch disbanded Trucks and introducted Pat to a local Tallahassee band called Crosscut Saw. In the next five years, Pat and Crosscut Saw played every Juke Joint and Roadhouse from Key West to Conneticut. In 1985, the Pat Ramsey Band was formed, 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 opened for acts like Charlie Musslewhite, Solomon Burke, Albert Collins, Ronnie Earl, James Cotton, and Pinetop Perkins. Two years later, they were ready to make the jump to Memphis, Tennessee. 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. With the help of his old friend Julien Kasper 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 CDs: 'Live at the Grand' and 'Live at the Big Bend Blues Bash', the second one, 75 minutes of high energy harmonica and guitar driven blues and blues rock. Pat Ramsey passed away on Nov. 17, 2008 but his music lives on and he is remembered in the hearts of his family, friends and fans. Pat was much more than a singer and harmonica player ... His playing and singing were the result of a musical reflection of great quality and great finesse. ~ Alain Messier Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.