Beth Patterson

05/23/2026

Come see us on some wicked smaaht shows!

05/11/2026

I guess I was feeling a little spunky and a little nostalgic, and decided that a hair toss would somehow improve my playing. The Belle Mont Celtic Festival was such a fantastic event. Instead of multiple stages that divide people’s attention, there was just one stage with three bands in rotation, so folks had a chance to hear, see, and do everything they wanted.

Between the Chambless/Muse band and Piper Jones, I savored the fact that I respected every single player on a musical level, and also loved them all fiercely as people. (Kudos to Jil for deliberately saying “whale” over the mic as explosively as possible, just to make me fall out of my chair. Ya got me!)

And I seemed to have gotten the blessing of David Hood. I just wanted to absorb all that Muscle Shoals ingenuity.

And now I’m off to Norfolk, VA to play five nights at Grace O'Malley's Irish Pub & Restaurant. I’ll be there Tuesday through Saturday…come hang!

05/03/2026

I’m in the final stages of wrapping up some studio works in progress (to be continued in the fall), and making my packing list. Seán Heely and I have a wicked adventure ahead of us, which you can see on my schedule link below. More dates and details will unfold as I get them, so do please keep checking back.

https://bethpattersonmusic.com/shows-2/

This raises all sorts of questions in my mind. Which path should I choose? Who will I meet along the way? What if I accidentally discover that I’m really good at poker? Will I finally succumb to the wine-whine merger? I can’t wait to find out.

“You can’t take the road from me…”

Photo credit: Jordan Koepke Photography

04/27/2026

I had a ball yesterday working with Roddy Ory on one of my works in progress. I have all sorts of secret ideas up my sleeve for the further development of this prognoxious song, even as I chided myself, “Why are we such gluttons for punishment?” (The answer, of course, is, “Because it’s fun.”) I could not have asked for a more fitting drummer for this particular piece.

In other news, I’ll going to have another shot at some of my fiction landing on the moon. Some of you followed me on my journey to Cape Canaveral back in 2024. The Lunar Codex, an art and literature time capsule, included one of my whackadoodle pieces of fiction. It was launched via the Peregrine. I had a fascinating conversation with rocket scientists over cold beer and fish tacos. I got a guided viewing point on the beach, where I watched the rocket take off. I learned some amazing stuff about space and technology. Sadly, the Peregrine (and my story) only made it as far as lunar orbit before its controlled descent back to Earth. But the whole experience was still life changing.

So in the fourth quarter of the year, I’ll be watching the Griffin take off, carrying the Polaris lander. To the lunar South Pole we go (along with a lot of my friends, whose works are in the same lunar time capsule)! Hopefully our work will land on the moon this time, and I’ll get to look up at the night sky and tell folks, “One of my stories is up there.” They’ll probably say, “Sure, Grandma, let’s get you to bed,” but I don’t care.

04/25/2026

Updated start time: 5 PM!

Younger me: “Yeah, that means I can reenact all my old mischief with high school friends!”

Current me: “Yeah, I can get a good night’s sleep before a prognoxious rhythm section recording session tomorrow!” Poo-yie, I’m such a nerd, cher (pronounced “shaa”).

Patio vibes are on! 🎸🔥

Join us TONIGHT from 6:30–9:30PM as Beth Patterson bring the energy to Agave Bertrand. Good food, cold drinks, and live tunes waiting for you!

04/20/2026

When my brother in music Lewis told me that we’d both been invited to the 85th birthday party of one Barret Hansen (better known as Dr. Demento), he pointed out that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. And he was absolutely right.

I never did have the presence in the comedy music scene that my peers do, and these folks put a lot of dedication and devotion into funny music. (For me, comedy is a side hustle, but for them it’s a way of life, and I am in awe of these people). So it was amazing to have gotten a total of twenty spins on Dr. Demento’s show; either under my real name, my alter persona Bad Beth and Beyond, part of the Steamcog Orchestra as BP Hatbox, or just as a hired gun for other people’s songs.

We hugged The Good Doctor. I chatted with folks like Emo Philips and Jon Bermuda Schwartz. People got onstage and told amazing, heartfelt stories of how Dr. Demento touched their lives. It was clear how many dreamers and misfits felt less alone when they tuned into his show weekly, for a span of over five decades.

There’s a reason Bad Beth and Beyond tells her imaginary origin story in “Wanna Play Doctor?” with the line “My knight in shining armor is top hat and Hansen.”

Major thanks to my fellow Lafayette native/fellow FuMP artist Bonnie Gordon for schlepping us, housing us, and being so awesome.

Oh, yes…and I was told there would be cake.

04/16/2026

“Do you really think you can deter me from my quest? BAHAHAHAA!” Just a quick reminder about a couple of gigs this weekend: Friday the 17th at Agave Mexican Grill and Cantina, downtown location, in Lafayette, LA, 6:30-9:30. (Come out, you couillons! We don’t even have to speak entirely in English.) Then on Saturday the 18th I’ll be playing French Quarter Festival, 12:15, inside the Jazz Museum…air conditioning, everyone! I’ll be able to say hi after that, but then I’ll be hightailing it to the airport. My ride-or-die friend Lewis and I will be on a mission…I’ll post pics of the forthcoming event as soon as I get the green light. Imaginations on fire, indeed.

04/12/2026

My semi-recent state of mind has been “everything was yesterday, and everything was a million years ago.” It’s brought up five random reflections on my weird musical life:

1. By the time I turned sixteen, I’d played four shows that had gotten shut down by the cops. No matter what the lineup was, the cops began to recognize me, because I was always the only girl.

2. For my first commercial band CD, the photos were taken by a forensic photographer. We got exactly one group shot and one individual shot each, because the guy wasn’t used to his subjects moving, let alone smiling for the camera.

3. When I was in college, Quincy Jones came to give a talk. I was sitting in the absolute back row (a habit you develop when you’re a bit of a smartass). At one point he said the word “kabuki,” and everyone turned around to look at me. I frantically waved my hands in a helpless “face the front, dammit” gesture.

4. My proudest equipment save was when I had to pivot my body and land ass-first in a crate, so that the not-exactly-small mixing board fell on top of me, and not the floor. The board was unharmed. I lay there for a few seconds, pinned under the board like a giant overturned tortoise. One of my band mates came running to free me, we both started laughing, I couldn’t get up, and the staff decided this was neither their circus nor their monkeys. I sustained no injuries; just some very questionable-looking bruises that nobody else saw anyway.

5. I once played a gig in which I was the only person in the venue wearing clothes. Including the bartenders. So much for pretending your audience is naked if you’re nervous.

Photo: “Evidence that you and your best friend left the house to get something to eat,” autumn of 1989.

04/11/2026

Felix Hanemann of Zebra, and me, trying to figure out how many bass players it takes to change a light bulb. Then somebody plunked Randy’s hydra-like instrument in my lap, and I was like, “What in the Xanadu-dah-day am I supposed to do with this?”

Mah homies. I lubs dem.

04/06/2026

I told myself I was done with making solo records. So naturally some little songlets began to emerge recently, especially when unbidden. It finally just hit me that a new solo album wants to exist…eventually. I’ve been working in several different environments, and I anticipate that the variety is going to be pretty wild.

Photo by Jordan Koepke Photography

04/04/2026

Thanks to everyone who donated to the various charities for the Crescent City Classic. We all might have different perspectives on what makes the world a better place, but every single one of these organizations was a stellar cause. It was breathtaking to watch the competitive runners whiz past me, and my formative years of being raised in a bilingual parish made me say, “K’yawwww!”

A lot of the time I try to reduce my mind to a laser focus when I jog, but it was hard to ignore folks sitting on their porches and sipping mimosas, watching us run by. Or marching bands off to the side, reminiscent of how music lent courage in battles. Or numerous silly signs that made me laugh. Or the odd graffiti that made me tell myself, “What the hell is wrong with you? Remember who you are!” Reality phone, it’s for me.

In the interest of swag science, I tried on one of the official Pub Band shirts. The small women’s cut is pretty relaxed. No matter what you’re sipping, you, too, can raise a Practical Question. You can order your own here:

https://stonegrooverecords.myspreadshop.com/beth+patterson+practical+question+shirt-A691a702d59adb31b421ecadc?productType=812&sellable=oNlJbnZ4M2Td5N0wpaNQ-812-7