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"Especially when you can bring joy to other people."
Gray Singer/Songwriter Pattie Jean Michaud
By Jeanne Adams
A wax cylinder record

Gray-- One day, 5 year old Pattie Jean Michaud of Gray was asked to sing by her elementary school teacher, who made a cylinder wax recording. The young girl knew only two songs by heart and so 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Silent Night' became this award-winning vocalist's first recordings.


Above, Pattie Jean with husband Bob. The Monument: Jeanne Adams photo

Michaud has made several recordings since in a long career that really began when she was 18. "My mom had tried to teach me to play the guitar. But sometimes teenagers are rebellious. I had moved down from Damariscotta to live with my aunt because this was where I could get a job. I decided to surprise my Mother by learning to play the guitar. She came to visit and I sat down and started playing and she was so surprised!" Michaud has delighted audiences since.

It is not only audiences that are delighted with Patti Jean's music. In May Michaud earned two awards from the Pine Tree State Country Music Association: Senior Female Vocalist of the Year and Senior Gospel Vocalist of the Year. The trophies will join several other awards on her mantel, including the Maine Country Music Association's 1998 Gospel of the Year. "Music brings me great joy. If you're feeling sad, pick that up (gesturing to her guitar) and it makes everthing okay. Especially when you can bring joy to other people."

A Musical Family

Michaud's mom, Phyllis Moulton of Damariscotta, is a singer musician in her own right. Pattie Jean has five sisters and one brother, and "every one of us is musical" she said. Married for 43 years, Pattie Jean and husband Bob have lived in Gray for 39 years in a neat as a pin house on Route 202, raising two sons, Tony and Michael, who are also musicians. Son Tony has a band named Midnight Shift and he owns a DJ/karaoke business. Son Michael is a drummer.

Bob retired after 44 years at Sebago Shoe in Westbrook. Now, they enjoy attending bluegrass festivals and Pattie Jean's shows. Bob doesn't perform on stage, saying, "I keep her guitars stringed." But he attends just about every show. "He's my biggest supporter," Patti Jean said.

Not only skilled at music

In between all the singing Pattie Jean became an expert cake decorator and she managed several house cleaning accounts. She also taught guitar lessons "for a very long time." Locally, she participated many times in the old "Gray-New Gloucester Follies" a vaudeville fundraiser for the Band Boosters. "Joe Ryan was the emcee, Agnes Stansfield was the music director at the high school for many years and directed the Follies chorus, Carol West, RoJean Tulk, Joan Fenno."

In good company

Over the course of her career, Patti Jean has enjoyed playing with Maine country favorites Denny Breau, Paul Main, Al Hawkes, Phil Warren, the late Kenny Drummond and Country Touch, New England Country Boys, and Ginger Mae Dyer and son Daryl. Pattie Jean cites Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline as inspiration. She's even appeared on WPXT-TV 51 singing Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter."

A Gift From God

Pattie Jean doesn't take personal credit for her talent, saying "This is a gift from God and I don't think I could have done it without Him." She gives thanks to "all these people that cared about you and helped you along the way." A few years ago her life changed course and she began to perform gospel music, as a way to share her faith with others. She often sings at Windham Baptist Church.

The future looks bright
Patti's scrapbook is filled with autographed photos of country greats, thank you notes, newspaper clippings, certificates of appreciaton, concert programs and candid shots of Pattie Jean performing around the state.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Pattie Jean sang in a competition last weekend, will soon perform with sister Teresa at Umaine Farmington on the cable TV show "Musicians of Maine," and will solo for Gray's own (coming soon) GCTV-2 program "Talent Made in Maine."