Tab Benoit | |
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 Tab Benoit in February 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1967-11-17)November 17, 1967 (age 58) Houma, Louisiana U.S. |
| Genres | Swamp blues,Soul blues,Chicago blues[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, drums |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | Justice Records |
| Website | tabbenoit |
Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967)[1] is an Americanblues guitarist, musician, and singer.[2] His playing combines a number ofblues styles, primarilyDelta blues.
He plays a stock 1972Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar and writes his own musical compositions. Benoit graduated fromVandebilt Catholic High School inHouma, Louisiana in May 1985. In 2003, he formed "Voice of the Wetlands," an organization promoting awareness of coastalwetlandspreservation.
A guitar player since his teenage years, Benoit appeared at the Blues Box, a music club and cultural center in Baton Rouge run by guitaristTabby Thomas. Playing guitar alongside Thomas,Raful Neal, Henry Gray, and other high-profile regulars at the club, Benoit learned the blues first-hand from a faculty of living blues legends. He formed a trio in 1987 and began playing clubs inBaton Rouge andNew Orleans. He began touring other parts of the South two years later and started touring more of the United States in 1991. Today he continues to perform across the country.[3]
Benoit was featured in theIMAX film,Hurricane on the Bayou.[4]
Benoit landed a recording contract with Texas-based Justice Records and released a series of recordings, beginning in 1992 withNice and Warm.These Blues Are All Mine was released onVanguard in 1999 after Justice folded.
That same year, Benoit appeared onHomesick for the Road, a collaborative album on theTelarc label with fellow guitarists Kenny Neal andDebbie Davies.Homesick not only served as a showcase for three relatively young musicians, but also launched Benoit's relationship with Telarc, which came to fruition in 2002 with the release ofWetlands.
OnWetlands, Benoit mixed original material such as the autobiographical "When a Cajun Man Gets the Blues" and "Fast and Free" withProfessor Longhair's "Her Mind Is Gone" andOtis Redding's "These Arms of Mine".
Later in 2002, Benoit releasedWhiskey Store, a collaborative recording with fellow guitarist and Telarc labelmateJimmy Thackery,[1] harpistCharlie Musselwhite, and theDouble Trouble rhythm section consisting of bassistTommy Shannon and drummerChris Layton.
In 2003, Benoit releasedSea Saint Sessions,[1] recorded at Big Easy Recording Studio inNew Orleans. In addition to Benoit and his regular crew, bassist Carl Dufrene and drummer Darryl White, Sea Saint Sessions included guest appearances by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux,Cyril Neville, Brian Stoltz, andGeorge Porter Jr. That same year, Benoit and Thackery took their dueling guitar show on the road, and recorded a March 2003 performance at the Unity Centre for Performing Arts inUnity, Maine. The result wasWhiskey Store Live, released in February 2004.
Benoit's 2005 release wasFever for the Bayou,[1] which also included guest appearances by Cyril Neville (vocals and percussion) andBig Chief Monk Boudreaux (vocals). In 2006, Benoit recordedBrother to the Blues with Louisiana's LeRoux. It was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. His cover of Buddy Miller's "Shelter Me" was the theme song for theDiscovery Channel TV-series,Sons of Guns. In April 2011 Benoit releasedMedicine, featuring Anders Osborne, Michael Doucet of Beausoleil, and Ivan Neville.[1]
In 2007, Benoit won his firstB.B. King Entertainer of the Year award presented by theBlues Music Awards, described variously as "the highest accolade afforded musicians and songwriters in Blues music"[5] and "[t]he premier blues music event in the world".[6]
Benoit was inducted into TheLouisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) on May 16, 2010, at the LMHOF Louisiana Music Homecoming in Erwinville, Louisiana.
In 2012, Benoit won three separateBlues Music Awards: Contemporary Blues Male Artist; Contemporary Blues Album (for 2011'sMedicine); and for the second time, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.[6][7][8]
2013 saw Benoit win the Blues Music Awards Contemporary Blues Male Artist[9][10] for the second year in a row.
Benoit became owner of Tab Benoit's Lagniappe Music Cafe, situated in the downtown district ofHouma, Louisiana.[11]
Benoit has also been involved in conservation efforts on behalf of Louisiana wetlands.[12] He is the founder of 'Voice of the Wetlands,' an organization promoting awareness of the receding coastal wetlands of Louisiana.[13] In 2010, Benoit received the Governor's Award – Conservationist of the Year for 2009 by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation.[14] He uses his music to promote the issues that plague Louisiana's imperiled coast to his national audience. One reason he founded the nonprofit Voice of the Wetlands Foundation (VOW) is to support outreach and education about Louisiana's Wetlands loss and how Louisiana's rich culture is also going away as its wetlands disappear.[14]
He owns his own recording studio inHouma, Louisiana, and runs a record label, Whiskey Bayou Records.[15] Benoit co-arranged and co-producedAlastair Greene's album,The New World Blues.[16] The album was released on October 23, 2020.[17]
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