ANNA MARIA – If you happen to be strolling by Harry’s Grill on Gulf Drive in Anna Maria any Thursday or Saturday evening, you’ll likely hear the sounds of Pamela K. Ward. After spending the last two decades as a recording artist and performer in Nashville, Ward and her husband Chris, who is also her guitar player, relocated to enjoy the laid-back lifestyle the Island has to offer.
Raised on a farm that’s been in her family for five generations in Arkansas, Ward doesn’t come from a family of musicians, but says her parents realized she had a talent for singing and performing at an early age.
“My grandfather owned The Sugarloaf Opry in Heber Springs, Arkansas, and while he always appreciated music, he was never a performer. He actually put me on stage when I was 2 years old, and I was immediately hooked,” said Ward, who went on to learn the piano and saxophone around the age of 8. She has been earning a living as a professional musician since she was 10 years old.
Ward moved to Nashville at the age of 17 in hopes of furthering her career as a musician, and found many opportunities to perform in the city, as well as tour the nation with her band.
“I had a lot of leads in Nashville; people I was playing with, people I was performing with. I went out on the road with a lot of different people, playing sax, playing piano and doing backup vocals. I was busy, I was very busy for almost 20 years,” said Ward, who also spent a few years as the house band for the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
Ward spent a lot of time on the road touring, and in between tours began coming to Anna Maria Island often with her longtime guitar player and now husband, Chris. After realizing they preferred the warm weather and relaxed lifestyle of island living to the fast-paced city life in Nashville, they decided to sell the tour bus and buy a home in Florida.
“We purchased our home here in 2015, but at first were pretty much just visiting. We’d come down here a few days at a time, then hit the road again. Sometimes we were gone for four to six weeks before we could come home and chill out on the beach for a couple of days. We finally made Harry’s our full-time gig in 2020 and I honestly would not change a thing about it. It’s honestly been one of the greatest experiences of mine and my husband’s life,” said Ward, referring to Harry’s Grill in Anna Maria, where the duo performs twice a week.
You can see Pamela and Chris at Harry’s every Thursday evening for throwback Thursday. This very interactive show is 100% requests. Guests enjoying dinner and drinks on the patio shout their requests and this talented duo is able to perform just about anything the crowd can throw at them. They also host “Saxy Saturdays” at Harry’s. This show features an evening of saxophone performances, which is Ward’s signature sound.
In addition to performing at Harry’s Grill, Pamela K. Ward can be seen performing the National Anthem at major sporting events. She is often invited back to Nashville to sing the Anthem for The Predators. She also performs the Anthem for the Tampa Bay Rays, The Pittsburgh Pirates during spring training and the Tampa Marauders.
