Beth Patterson

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Portrait of Beth Patterson from Hybrid Vigor

Beth Patterson is an Irish folk and Celtic musician of considerable renown. Combining traditional Irish, Celtic and folk ballads with Cajun, world-beat and progressive rock influences, her own creative songwriting and a unique sense of humor, Patterson's wit, charm, and beauty are as memorable as her powerful music.

A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Patterson began her professional career in her teens as a classical oboist and a Cajun bass player. She spent a year studying traditional Irish music and ethnomusicology at University College Cork in Ireland, where she began to experiment with musical fusion. She later finished her bachelor's degree in Music Therapy from Loyola University New Orleans. Today her preferred instrument is the Irish bouzouki, a tear-shaped eight-string instrument of Greek origin that became popular in Irish music in the 1960s.

She was a founding member of the ensemble The Poor Clares, who debuted at the New Orleans Jazz Festival to rave reviews. The Poor Clares' albums include Change of Habit and Songs for Midwinter, distributed nationally on the Centaur label. Since then, Patterson has released three albums, on the Little Blue Men Records label, include two studio productions, the somewhat more traditionally-oriented but still musically eclectic Hybrid Vigor, and the world-beat and progressive-rock-influenced Take Some Fire. Her most recent album is the 2005 live album, Caught in the Act. She has also played on and produced other albums, most recently (2005) on the album Orin by the Breton progressive-folk group Tornaod. She has over 70 recordings to her credit.

She was a regular performer at O'Flaherty's Irish Pub in New Orleans's famed French Quarter, until Hurricane Katrina hit at the end of August 2005; O'Flaherty's has not reopened at its original site, and at last report will not reopen in the future, but Patterson has since begun playing regularly at other New Orleans venues, most notably Sean Kelly's. She has also toured in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and Belgium, as well as much of the United States. She is especially a favorite of Celtic music fans in the Washington, D.C. area.