Happy Birthday, Tab Benoit!
John Dunlop
Singer songwriter, guitarist, and drummer Tab Benoit was born November 17, 1967, in Houma Louisiana. A guitar player since his teenage years, he plays primarily Delta blues on his 1972 Fender Telecaster, but he’s skilled in a number of blues styles. Benoit learned from blues legends, and formed a trio in 1987, playing clubs in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Two years later he began touring other parts of the South, and started touring more of the United States in 1991. He landed a recording contract in 1992, and has been prolific since then, releasing 19 recordings between 1993 and 2012. In that time, he has collaborated and performed with countless legendary musicians including his regular crew, bassist Carl Dufrene and drummer Darryl White, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Cyril Neville, Brian Stoltz, George Porter, Jr.., Kenny Neal, Debbie Davies, Jimmy Thackery, Charlie Musselwhite, Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton, Anders Osborne, Michael Doucet, Ivan Neville, and more.
In 2007, Benoit won his first B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award presented by the Blues Music Awards, the most prestigious recognitions afforded to Blues musicians. Benoit was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2010, and two years later, he 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. In 2013, the second year in a row, Benoit won the Blues Music Awards Contemporary Blues Male Artist.
In 2003, Benoit founded 'Voice of the Wetlands,' an organization promoting awareness of the receding coastal wetlands of Louisiana.He promotes the issues that plague Louisiana's imperiled coast to his national audience, and supports outreach and education about Louisiana's Wetlands loss and how Louisiana's rich culture is endangered as its wetlands disappear.In 2010, Benoit received the Governor's Award - Conservationist of the Year for 2009 by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation.
Photo: Bengt Nyman