My Musical History By Pat Murphy

My Musical History
By Pat Murphy

When I was about four or five years old, Miss Susie Weston, who lived two houses over had a young black kid who worked in her yard and around the house. He was tall and lanky and his name was Isaac J. Darensbourg, Jr. but everybody just called him Bo.

I remember being aware that Bo was cool because he was a guitar player. In those days the help ate outside under an oak tree. Bo would have his sandwich and ice water out under the tree with me hanging around and talking poor Bo's arm off. Bo was my buddy and he still is today.
(see Friends and Family – Guitar Bo)

The first song that I remember being aware of on the radio was Phil and
Don Everly singing "Wake Up Little Susie". I was hooked from that point on. I wish that I could tell you that I was raised on a diet of Muddy Waters and Louis Jordan but I wasn't. My mom was a big fan of forties big band blues (Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris) and my daddy used to sing old Jimmy Rogers and cowboy songs to me at bedtime as a kid but basically I was raised on white bread American top 40 teen radio. My indoctrination into the world of r&b began when I was about twelve years old. I used to lay in bed at night with earphones and the am transistor radio listening to the only clear channel radio station in the south that played rock and roll. WLAC radio in Nashville with disc jockeys Big John R and Hoss Man Allen opened my eyes and the eyes of many southern white youths to black r&b. I will always be indebted those guys because I've been hooked on southern r&b ever since.

When I was in sixth grade my dad's youngest brother Mike ( in an attempt to give me some direction, I suppose) told me that if I wanted to join the school band he would buy a trumpet for me. I still remember him sternly telling me that the horn had better not end up in the closet in six months. I still remind him of that statement and will tell anybody that Uncle Mike Murphy is the man who put me on the road to the rock and roll business!!! I joined the school band my sixth grade year at St. Stanislaus and played in the concert, stage band and marching band all the way through high school.

Around this same time Irwin "Squeaky" Hille got a brand new shiny set of champagne sparkle Gretsch drums for Christmas. Squeaky’s dad and my grandfather were best friends and every Christmas morning we'd go over to Squeaky’s house so my dad and grandfather could have a few belts of Christmas cheer while all the kids in the house were going beserk playing with their new toys. Squeaky was in the school band with me but a couple of years my senior. Within a year or so Squeaky and some other guys from school had a real deal rock and roll band. They called themselves The Scavengers, which I thought was a really, really cool name (I still like it!!). Later they changed the name to The Starfires because at this particular time it seemed to be mandatory that all band's had to have car names (stingrays, mustangs,impalas, cobras, mg's, etc.). The name came honestly though because Squeaky’s dad owned the local Oldsmobile dealership (remember the 1963 Starfire??)

The St. Stanislaus band hall had an old beat up grand piano at the time and a year or so later I walked in one day ( take note, this is an important event!!!) when several of The Starfires were sitting around plinking out chords. Somehow I managed to get them to teach me a circle 6th progression and the intro to Blueberry Hill. Hell, if you knew those and a 1-4-5 progression you were ready for the rock and roll business!!!
(Thank you Martin Moreale,Howard Carver & Stinky Carvin)

Both of my younger sisters were very accomplished pianists with years of lessons under their belts so there was always an old upright at our house for them to practice on. I should mention here that when I was three I had polio in one of the last great epidemics of the early fifties. Just a year or two later they would develop the vaccine but Murphy’s Law ruled for me, even back then. Essentially I partially lost the use of my left arm but fortunately was raised by two loving parents who instilled in me the realization that I could do anything I set my mind to do. I plinked and practiced and learned all my basic triad chords and scales on my own because my sisters could read music but couldn't play anything by ear. I basically taught myself. I admit that it's all bass ackwards but it has worked for me for thirty five years so I guess that I did ok!! (Basically, nobody ever told me that I couldn't be a one armed piano player!)

Really, from the point that Squeaky started playing music I was consumed with an interest in live music and bands. I would go to see any and all live music that I could as a kid. It started with youth center teen dances featuring Squeaky and The Starfires or Bo and The Claudettes Combo. I was also blessed to live in "SIPPIANNALAND" (The Mississippi Gulf Coast ) which was only an hour's drive east from New Orleans. I was lucky enough to see most of the New Orleans musical legends in their heyday. Performers like Irma Thomas, Ernie K Doe, Benny Spellman, The Aubrey Twins, Professor Longhair, Sugar Boy Crawford, Earl King and Art Neville and The Hawkettes played for all of the school, yacht club and CYO teen dances. Deacon John and the Ivories were always my favorite.
(See Friends and Family- Deacon John Moore)

During this same period my future buddy Duke Bardwell was burning up the backroads of the Deep South playing in The Dixie Crystals and The Greek Fountains. Little did he know at the time that fate would carry him to a spot as bass player in Elvis Presley's band!!!
(See Friends and Family- Duke Bardwell)

When I was a sophomore in high school my running mate Billy Shumski got his first set of drums and then another friend, Ronnie Genin , bought a bass and Ree Elliott got a Kingston electric guitar and a Silvertone amp out of the Sears catalog. The three of them started banging out chords on Ree’s parent's front porch until the neighbors got enough of the noise and practice was moved inside to the living room. They played one gig before I managed to talk my way into the band playing a borrowed chord organ. The Saxons were born.

The first job that I ever played was actually a for money gig. We got ten bucks apiece and thought that we had hit the big time. The job was in the back room of Trapani’s Knock Knock Bar in Bay St. Louis. At the end of the night everyone at the party was blind drunk and wanting us to play for another hour. Most of the band had to call home and get permission from our parents to stay out for another hour!!! Several months later we decided that The Saxons name was not irreverant enough for our punky tastes and so, being products of a good Catholic education, we rechristened ourselves The Lost Souls.

( NOTE!! I know of no photos that exist of The Saxons or The Lost Souls. There quite possibly were some photos taken at our first gig at Trapani's Knock Knock where we might have been in the background. I would be eternally grateful to anyone who might be able to come up with some of these photos!!)

Sometime towards the beginning of our senior year guitarist Ree Elliott made the decision to leave the band for more "serious" endeavors. There was an older guy (about 21 at the time) named Mike Willumitis who had played in the later versions of The Starfires. He was the kind of guy parents loved to hate. A greaser motorcycle and hot rod enthusiast who was old enough to buy the beer and do whatever he wanted when he wanted to do it!!!! Willumitis had seen the light and washed and blow dried himself into a long haired flower child. He wore bell bottoms and flowered shirts and didn't respect anyone or anything (especially authority!!!!) We were mightily impressed and besides, Willumitis had lots of great equipment including a Vox organ!!! The Subway Prophets were born.

We were playing bars and dances along the coast, taking the occasional road trip into south Louisiana and making real good money for a bunch of high school kids. Life was good. I played on and off through two bands, (The Subway Prpphets and Tomorrow’s Dawn) with these guys and we’re all still friends although none of them are still involved in the music business.

When I was a Junior in high school we got a new band director by the name of Clem Toca. Clem is still my friend today and he is still involved in the music business. Clem did all his director's duties as far as marching band (we marched in all the New Orleans Mardi Gras parades and had some of the hippest street beats and cadences you ever heard!!). His concert band made all the moms and dads smile but those things were not really Clem’s bag. Clem was into jazz lab band and we were his guinea pigs. By the next year our jazz lab band took second place in national competition. We kicked butt. Clem was taking us to New Orleans to legendary Cosimo’s recording studio and using us to cut TV commercials and record dates when I was seventeen years old!! He taught a whole lot to a bunch of high school kids from Mississippi and really he was the one that made me realize that you could make money and still have fun in the music business! (Thanks Clem Toca!!)

My first cousin, Chuck Murphy, is two years my junior but we have always been close. Chuck was a military brat because my dad's older brother, Charles, was a lieutenant commander in the navy. They lived in all these exotic places like Midway Island, Hawaii and California. Chuck was an avid surfer both in Hawaii and California. When he was about thirteen his dad bought him a brand new candy apple red ’63 Fender Stratocaster and a Fender Super Reverb amp. Chuck would come stay summers with us and be an honorary band member. He turned me on to the first Paul Butterfield Blues Band album in 1967!!! In his day Chuck was one of the most explosive guitarists I've ever heard.
(See Friends and Family- Chuck Murphy)

In 1972 I started a band called Gris Gris with my cousin, Chuck Murphy, David Adams, Mike Keel and a drummer named Ray Hanser. Later Ray Hanser was replaced by drummer Sidney Rutter (who would eventually go on to play with me in both The Catahoula Band and The County Line Band ) Mike Keel and I had been friends since high school and he had been a roadie for Tomorrow's Dawn. This band played together for about a year before some of us merged with Corruption another local band.

During this time period there was rival local band named Corruption (formerly The Agents) who had their act together way more than we did. They were working with booking agents a lot and played all of the time. Bassist David Adams left Gris Gris to go play with Corruption. About six months later I was asked to replace their keyboard player and about three months later Mike Keel was also in the band. A short time later drummer Sid Rutter moved back from Dallas and joined the band. The other guitar players in Corruption were Danny Perniciaro (now Nashville recording artist Danny Roy) and Tommy Moran. We later changed the band name from Corruption to The Catahoula Band. This band travelled all over the Southeast. We played anywhere and everywhere. We'd play a high school prom in Georgia one night and a fraternity party in Baton Rouge the next night and then do an afternoon gig in Panama City the next afternoon. I met my wife, Candy, while playing a dance with this band.
(See Friends and Family- Mike Keel, Danny Perniciaro, Tommy Moran)
(See Departed Brothers- David Adams)

The Catahoula Band was playing a dance in early 1974 and Mike Keel and I went outside for some fresh air and an attitude adjustment. We were standing on the sidewalk and two girls walked by. One of them, a tall lanky long haired blonde, smiled and said hello to me. Later on when we had come back up from break she walked up and requested some stupid Grand Funk Railroad song. I told her that not only did we not play the song but that I hated Grand Funk Railroad!! Amazingly that comment didn't scare her off. It was love / lust at first sight and my relationship with my wife of thirty years had begun. Candy and I were married on September 20, 1975. All of my musical friends and brothers played for the wedding reception. People still talk about what a knock down drag out party it was!!

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In the fall of 1976 I started playing music with some guys from Picayune in a band named Southernaire (never did like that name at all) . The guys from that band, drummer Kenny Fortenberry, guitarists Mike Lovelle and Jerry Philen and bassist Roger Smith are still good friends today and still get together on occasion and play some of the music from back then.

After Southernaire broke up I tried for a time to put a my own band together with Kenny and Mike but we kept having problems with bass players so at some point I decided that I’d buy Candy a Fender Jazz bass for Christmas and we'd show her the basics. Six months later Candy was on stage playing with me in a new band called The County Line Band.
(See Candy Murphy friends and family)

The real County Line Band consisted of me on piano and vocals, Candy on bass, Sid Rutter (who played with me in Catahoula) on drums, Candy’s cousin Gina Larsen on vocals and John Bezou on guitar. We also from time to time would use Michael Rosato on harp and Big Tommy Moran on fiddle. This band did some progressive country (This period was the urban cowboy period) and, of course, a lot of soul and r&b.
(see Friends and Family- Gina & T Bone Larsen, John Bezou)

At some point Gina decided to leave the band and Sid Rutter's wife at the time didn’t like him out at night playing music so he eventually left. It was down to me, Candy and Rockin' John Bezou. We went through a couple of drummers while getting more and more out of country music. Finally we happened on to Jerry Lenfant who was the younger brother of my good friend, Jay Lenfant. Jay used to set up equipment for Tomorrow’s Dawn.

We changed the name to The Juke Jumpers because the old name just didn’t seem to be appropriate. About two years later I got a registered letter from another Juke Jumpers entity in Texas telling us not to use the name. I was getting tired of name changes so we went to The Pat Murphy Band and that’s the way it’s gonna stay.

Our daughter, Brianna, was born in 1984 and her mama played bass and did gigs until she was seven months pregnant. This little girl has been a true joy to us both. Her artistic forte seems to be in ballet rather than music and she has been involved in it since the age of three. By about 1992 Brianna was seven or so and working, being a full time mom and a working musician was really wearing Candy down. We decided that, for the good of my daughter and the band, we would find another bass player and move Candy to the front as one of the vocalists. This way the band could still do gigs but Candy would not have to perform every night. Candy still does most of the major shows with us and her tunes are always the highpoints of our shows. She rocks!!!!!

My drummer during this period, Jerry Lenfant, always had very definite ideas concerning what my band should be and where it should be heading. Around 1990 Jerry became unhappy with the way I was running my band and quit. About eighteen months later he asked to get back into the band and did for a brief period but things were never the same after that. While Jerry had been gone Jimmy Prima had come into the picture. Jimmy Prima really opened my eyes to the difference that a great drummer made to the band's sound. I had very specific ideas concerning what I wanted out of the drummer as far as what he should be playing (admittedly, I'm very demanding of my drummers now!) Jerry finally left the band permanently, taking guitarist of twelve years, John Bezou, with him. They formed their own band and are still working together today under the name of The Relative Unknowns. This period of time was a real learning experience for me and I had to go through some real maneuvering to get to where I am today. I firmly believe that these situations are learning experiences and they always make you grow musically, usually taking you to a higher plane and this was no exception.

Fact is that in the long run the band split worked out better for all concerned!!
(See Friends and Family-Rockin' John Bezou)

After John and Jerry left the band I worked with several different drummers
and guitar players, notably Jimmy Prima, George "Nighthawk" Lilly and New Orleans legend Emile Guess. We were booked to play a reception for Congressman Gene Taylor and Emile Guess got real sick and couldn’t play at the last minute. Robbie Rivers (who was also playing with The Pearl Band as well as my band at the time) got Bob Welch and Willie Willis to make the gig with us. The gig went so well that afterward Bob Welch approached me and said that if I wanted to put something together with them that they were interested. This led to The Pat Murphy Band of today.

This merger of The Pearl Band with The Pat Murphy Band has been a true joy for me and has really expanded my horizons musically. The music just keeps getting better and better! I thank my God every day for blessing me with such a wonderful musical life's adventure. Recently my old friend Eric Watkins has come into my life and my band on bass and vocals and the music has climbed to an even higher level! I am also blessed to be playing in The Jam Band with Eric, Tommy Moran, Johnny Hozey (it's all about guitars!!!) and Steve Sandberg. That’s my story up to this point. What the future holds, I have no idea and I don't worry myself with it, I know in my heart that the man has a plan for me and I'm happy with it.

Whenever I run into someone that I haven't seen in a long time the first question that they usually ask is if I'm still playing that music. I always give the same response, " Yes, I'm still playing that music, my band today is the best that I've ever had. I don't intend to stop and hope that I continue to play until I drop off the piano stool one night. " I can’t think of any way I’d rather go.

I've tried to include what I consider to be the pertinant people, places and information here. Apologies to anyone who wasn't mentioned and feels slighted because if I left you out it wasn't intentional or what I considered to be important. The truth is that after forty years some of this is pretty foggy !!!

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