Tab Benoit - Biography
Swamp rocker, blues guitarist and roots songwriter Tab Benoit is a fierce road warrior who regularly clocks 250 gigs a year. Since emerging from Tabby’s Blues Box and Heritage Hall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the late 1980s, his crowd-pleasing stage presence and sharp guitar playing have earned him a legion of rabid fans.
Born in 1967s, Benoit grew up in the small town of Houma, Louisiana in the late 1960s. He started playing guitar early, inspired by his multi-instrumentalist father. He taught himself rock guitar, but the Cajun waltzes and country music on the radio in the early to mid-1970s slowly made an impression on him. Benoit would play acoustic rock at local parties and social functions, but that began to change when a friend gave him a Buddy Guy album. Benoit immersed himself in Guy, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix. and B.B. King, while continuing to play in jazz, rock and Cajun bands. He slowly developed his own Cajun and swamp rock-influenced blues style.
In 1988, at 21-years-old, Benoit met Barbara Becker, Dr. John’s manager, who caught some of his small-club shows in New Orleans, usually to very small audiences. She brought people from Justice Records to see Benoit at a blues jam at the famous Mid City Lanes—Rock ‘n Bowl and the label asked him to cut a track for Strike a Deep Chord: Blues Guitars for the Homeless (1992 Justice), appearing alongside Dr. John, Odetta, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and other heavies. The label signed him up and produced his debut Nice and Warm (1992 Justice) an original blend of Texas and Louisiana blues styles.
Benoit’s follow ups, all of which sold about 50,000 copies, included What I Live For (1994 Justice), which was praised for its blistering guitar work; Standing On the Bank (1995 Justice/1999 Vanguard), which featured Willie Nelson dueting on a tune he co-wrote with Benoit “Rainy Day Blues”; and Live: Swampland Jam (1997 Justice) an album that showcased the swampy power of the entire trio—Benoit, Doug Therrien (bass) and Allyn Robinson (drums).
In 1999, Benoit signed with Vanguard Records. The label released his back catalogue and while he only made one original album for them—These Blues Are All Mine (1999 Vanguard)—it is thought to be his best album to date.
The bluesman continued his relentless touring and inked a deal with Telarc in 2000. Since then he’s managed to make an album every year, including the swamp blues masterpiece Wetlands (2002 Telarc); The Sea Saint Sessions (2003 Telarc); Whiskey Store (2004 Telarc), which is a live set with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble and bluesman Jimmy Thackery; Fever for the Bayou (2005 Telarc); Brother to the Blues (2006 Telarc), an album with a slight country blues flavor; Power of the Pontchartrain (2007 Telarc), which is full of blues classics; and the live Night Train to Nashville (2008 Telarc). On the latter album, Benoit is backed by the Louisiana blues rock band LeRoux, with guest shots by Wet Willie’s Jimmy Hall, Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Cajun accordion ace, Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone.