Blues Profile
Tab Benoit
by Ray Stiles
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1999 KBA Award Winner
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by the Blues Foundation
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Born in Baton Rouge on November 17, 1967 and raised in the steamy Gulf Coast oil and fishing town of Houma, Louisiana (where he lives to this day), Tab Benoit (pronounced ben-WAH), barely remembers learning to play guitar. He tells how he "had a book that showed how to play chords. After I learned the first three, I got rid of the book." Since that time, the music seemed to come naturally to him. He began playing gigs around town -- weddings, local Cajun festivals, and rock and roll shows -- anything to make a living and get the chance to play music. "The blues was always around me too," says Benoit, "I just didn't know it." "When I was 17, playing old '50s and '60s rock 'n' roll songs in a cover band, some guy came up and said, 'Hey! You have a nice blues style.' I was like, Blues? What the hell does that mean? I thought he was putting me down. I had no clue," says Benoit. Now I can see where it came from. Growing up I can remember hearing Ray Charles and James Brown and George Jones, and each one of them has a heavy blues base. When I listen to Hank Williams, he was really just singing the blues." Getting heavily into the blues from that point on Tab began playing at South Louisiana's Tabby's Blues Box and Heritage Hall in Baton Rouge. It was at these infamous clubs that Tab
played to gain acceptance from the true blues fans and players of the down and dirty genre; all while earning the customary thirteen dollars a night. Maintaining his blues roots Benoit began hitting the road -- hard. For the past decade he's been performing his distinct brand of cajun rock 'n blues, night after night, while watching the size of his audience steadily increase. This grueling tour schedule has paid off, as he now plays for standing room only crowds across the country -- crowds who think of Benoit as a personal friend. This is one of the most remarkable elements of the Benoit mystique -- his ability to embrace an audience as if he were reacquainting himself with an old friend. Beginning with his excellent 1992 debut, Nice and Warm, Benoit has also released three additional albums on Justice Records. He has recently signed with Telarc Records. Benoit has developed an intuitive, spontaneous approach to the blues that sets him apart from many playing today. Influenced by Buddy Guy's intensity and Albert King's gutsy punch, he can make the guitar cry and sing -- occasionally at the same time. Everything Tab does, he does on the spot. He rarely rehearses, making each performance a new experience for both the band and the audience. Fusing blues classics with up to the minute energy and superb solos Benoit's emotional, yet restrained, approach to playing the blues has made him one of the post popular of the young talent performing today.
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