Patrick Bowen

Patrick Bowen sings and plays keys, and in 2025 he played close to 300 shows on the Coast. If you have spent an evening in Ocean Springs lately, odds are good you have heard him.¹

He grew up in Central Louisiana and started out playing in church, which is where the bluesy gospel feel in his playing comes from. At 12 he swapped a stack of baseball cards for his first keyboard. With family roots in Arkansas, he was running a business of his own when a day trip along the Coast ended with lunch at The Government Street Grocery. He went home, put the house on the market, and has called Ocean Springs home for seven years.

That's what was in the dirt that I grew up on.

His first job in town was at The Lady May. Once people there heard him play, one gig led to the next until music was his full-time work. These days he plays rooms from New Orleans to Pensacola: lounges like Mosaic and EIGHT75, patios, private events and casino crowds.

At a Patrick show his voice leads and his hands stay on the keys, over backing tracks he builds himself for extra rhythm. The song list runs a few hundred deep, mostly classic rock, soul and blues from the 1950s forward. Expect Otis Redding, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, The Red Clay Strays and Tyler Childers, plus some Jimmy Buffett when the weather is right. He only plays songs that mean something to him.

Also catch him

• Full member of the Michael Vincent Band, on keys and vocals.
• Sits in now and then with the jam band Salty Groove.
• Hosts the open mic every other Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m., at The Lady May in Ocean Springs, where first-timers and working pros share the stage.