Tab Benoit

Tab Benoit is a Cajun man who’s definitely got the blues. Born in Houma, Louisiana, he’s been a guitar player since his teenage years. Playing guitar alongside Thomas, Raful Neal, Henry Gray and other high-profile regulars at a club near Baton Rouge run by guitarist Tabby Thomas, Benoit learned the blues first-hand from a faculty of living blues legends.

Benoit landed a recording contract with the tiny, Texas-based Justice Records and released a series of well-received recordings, beginning in 1992 with “Nice and Warm,” an album that prompted comparisons to blues guitar heavyweights like Albert King, Albert Collins and even Jimi Hendrix. Despite the hype, Benoit has done his best over the years to maintain a commitment to his Cajun roots—a goal that often eluded him when past producers and promoters tried to turn him and his recordings in a rock direction, often against his better instincts.

2006 brought Tab’s first big win at the Blues Music Awards with “Fever for the Bayou” winning Best Contemporary Blues Album and the release of his newest Telarc CD “Brother to the Blues.” In late 2006, “Brother to the Blues” was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album and Tab was nominated for the Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Male Artist and the prestigious Entertainer of the Year Award. Along with the release of Tab’s documentary Imax film “Hurricane on the Bayou 2007” looks to just continue Tab’s growth as one of the most important performers on the modern blues scene.