Tab Benoit

Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967) is an American blues guitarist, musician, and singer. His playing combines a number of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a stock 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar and writes his own musical compositions. Benoit graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, Louisiana, in May 1985. In 2003, he formed "Voice of the Wetlands," an organization promoting awareness of coastal wetlands preservation.

Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967) is an American blues guitarist, musician, and singer. His playing combines a number of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a stock 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar and writes his own musical compositions. Benoit graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, Louisiana, in May 1985. In 2003, he formed "Voice of the Wetlands," an organization promoting awareness of coastal wetlands preservation. ==Career== ===Early years=== Benoit was born in Houma, Louisiana, United States. A guitar player since his teenage years, Benoit appeared at the Blues Box, a music club and cultural center in Baton Rouge run by guitarist Tabby Thomas. Playing guitar alongside Thomas, Raful Neal, Henry Gray, and other high-profile regulars at the club, Benoit learned the blues first-hand from several living blues legends. He formed a trio in 1987¹ and began playing clubs in Baton Rouge and New 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. Benoit was featured in the IMAX film, Hurricane on the Bayou. ==Honors== In 2007, Benoit won his first B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award presented by the Blues Music Awards, described variously as "the highest accolade afforded musicians and songwriters in Blues music" and "[t]he premier blues music event in the world". Benoit was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) on May 16, 2010, at the LMHOF Louisiana Music Homecoming in Erwinville, Louisiana. In 2012, Benoit won three separate Blues Music Awards: Contemporary Blues Male Artist; Contemporary Blues Album (for 2011's Medicine); and for the second time, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. 2013 saw Benoit win the Blues Music Awards Contemporary Blues Male Artist for the second year in a row. ==Business ventures and activism== Benoit became owner of Tab Benoit's Lagniappe Music Cafe, situated in the downtown district of Houma, Louisiana. Benoit has also been involved in conservation efforts on behalf of Louisiana wetlands. He is the founder of 'Voice of the Wetlands,' an organization promoting awareness of the receding coastal wetlands of Louisiana. In 2010, Benoit received the Governor's Award – Conservationist of the Year for 2009 by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. 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. He owns his own recording studio in Houma, Louisiana, and runs a record label, Whiskey Bayou Records. Benoit co-arranged and co-produced Alastair Greene's album, The New World Blues. The album was released on October 23, 2020. ==Discography== 1993 – Nice and Warm 1994 – What I Live For 1995 – Standing on the Bank 1997 – Live: Swampland Jam 1998 – Homesick for the Road with Kenny Neal, Debbie Davies 1999 – These Blues are All Mine 2001 – Wetlands 2002 – Whiskey Store with Jimmy Thackery 2003 – The Sea Saint Sessions 2004 – Whiskey Store Live with Jimmy Thackery 2005 – Fever for the Bayou 2005 – Voice of the Wetlands – Voice of the Wetlands Allstars 2006 – Brother to the Blues with Louisiana's LeRoux 2007 – Power of the Pontchartrain with Louisiana's LeRoux 2008 – Night Train To Nashville with Louisiana's LeRoux 2011 – Medicine with Anders Osborne 2011 – Box of Pictures – Voice of the Wetlands Allstars 2012 – Legacy: The Best Of 2024 – I Hear Thunder with Anders Osborne ==References== ==External links== Official website VoiceoftheWetlands.com Tab Benoit collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

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