On any given night, year in and year out, The Pat Murphy Band will be somewhere serving up it's brand of 'Sippiana Soul Music to an audience. It's been that way since New Year's Eve 1965 when, at age 16, Pat Murphy played his first paid job in the back room of Trapani's Knock Knock Bar in Bay St. Louis. The infamous Biloxi Strip was literally wide open in the sixties and the high school junior got an eye opening education playing clubs like The Vapors, The Fiesta, and The Beachcomber.

Growing up in 'Sippianaland, ( a phrase coined by New Orleans pianist Mac Rebbenac describing the cultural bridging of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast ) the young musician was blessed with being exposed to all the New Orleans recording stars in their youth. The area clubs and dances regularly featured the likes of Ernie Kdoe, Benny Spellman, Earl King, Art and Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and Deacon John Moore and the Ivories. The local black venues like The Dixie Hall in Pass Christian and The Hundred Men's Pavillion in Bay St. Louis provided Murphy and his bandmates a backdoor to the 60's R&B circuit.

Murphy's brand of 'Sippiana Soul Music can best be described as a musical gumbo whose ingredients include the rollicking Texas shuffles of Junior Parker, Bobby Bland and Doug Sahm as well as the syncopated second line funk and dixieland jazz of the New Orleans streets. Added to this musical stew is a generous seasoning of gritty southern soul music with the jazz of Miles Davis and John Coltrane thrown in for garnishment.

The Pat Murphy Band works in a classical seven piece format consisting of a rhythm section, two piece horn section and a female vocalist. These musicians are 'Sippianaland's foremost ambassadors of horn blues, classic soul,funk,jazz. Their song list combines a versitile mix of very danceable fast and slow tunes. The band's sound is guaranteed to bring an audience whether a black tie wedding reception, a juke joint, or an outdoor music festival, to it's feet.

Pat Murphy ******* Keyboards, Vocals
Candy Murphy ****************** Vocals
Willie Willis ******** Trumpet,Vocals
Charles Fairly ************ Saxaphones
Bob Welch ********************Guitar
Paul Robinson ****************** Bass
Steve Sandberg **************** Drums