Tab Benoit
10.2.2010 – The Gramophone, St. Louis, MO
The Gramophone has been showing it is a venue to reckon with when it comes to live music in St. Louis and Saturday night (10.2.2010) was no exception. If you missed last night’s show featuring the extremely talented, Grammy nominated and original Tab Benoit, you can redeem yourself next week in Houma, LA, but more about that show later. In the meantime, I think this was the show to beat this October!
Corey Duplechin, Doug Gay and Tab Benoit at the Gramophone
Last night Tab Benoit brought his Cajun inspired Blues to St. Louis. Tab along with band mates Corey Duplechin on bass and Doug Gay on drums, induced extreme pleasure into all the patrons of the aforementioned venue. The Blues, incarnated in the Louisiana Mississippi Delta, caused people to sing along, dance and in general, enjoy themselves and the hospitality at 4243 Manchester Blvd.
I have seen a lot of Blues musicians over the years and am a close watcher of guitarists of all genres. Tab is special, very special in his Blues stylings, something you get a hint of on his CDs, but get immersed in when he plays live. In particular Tab brings a unique combination of strumming, muting, and lead while playing his aged semi-hollow Telecaster. Tab Benoit can strum a muted guitar for a few minutes and it is musical. He can create the sounds of swamp creatures like frogs, crickets and birds on his guitar and it is musical. I think I heard an alligator in there as well! In a flash he can tear into a lead riff and then blend into the sounds of a Mississippi Delta backwater night and it is musical. Tab and his guitar could easily be a one-man show and then there is that voice.
Tab Benoit passionate Blues Creole Cajun Style St. Louis at the Gramophone
He opened his second set solo on his “Tele” and showed that he is an all around talent, blending lead and rhythm guitar with his voice into a powerful three song set. When you hear Tab sing, you might think “country”, because he has a deep, soft twang. Once you start listening to what he is singing about, you understand that this man is all Cajun and isn’t shy about sharing that. If anything is his focus, it is food, Cajun, Creole, slow cooked and he sings about it. He told us during the show that he had to learn to play music because it takes so long to cook down in the Delta.
His solo opening included “My Bucket Has A Leak” off of “Fever for the Bayou” (2005) He then covered Sam Cooke’s “Bring it On To Me” which is on his “Brother to the Blues (2006) and before he went on a 5 minute drum solo, he tore into “Stackolina” off “Wetlands (2002). I did mention a drum solo! He put down the Tele, picked up 
the drum sticks and went off on a 5 min drum solo. At about 4 minutes, Corey Duplechin added his funky bass for a few minutes. Without skipping a beat, Tab gave up the throne to Adam, picked up his guitar and the band stepped it up even more with his version of “Killing Floor” which you can find on his well reviewed first album, “Nice and Warm” (1992). That one is still a favorite across all genres.
Tab shines whether he is covering Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” or doing his own original music. Personally I like everything he does, but in my opinion, his originals really show who he is. That is when the previously mentioned unique style of guitar show just what treasures he brings to the Blues genre of music. Like the Blues, an all American style of music, Tab Benoit is an all original star and more importantly uses his talents for things beyond his own career. In particular Tab loves his swamps.
Before Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta region, Tab created an organization called “Voice of the Wetlands”. He was concerned that there was no one on “watch” when it came to protecting this vital ecological anchor of the country. To many the Mississippi Delta region is just the muddy tip where the Mississippi River spits out into the Gulf of Mexico. For those who pay attention, they know that the Mississippi River Delta is for lack of a better term, a thermometer of the health of the United States. Not only does the Mississippi Delta provide sanctuary for migratory waterfowl, amphibians and other animals, but it is also a major natural resource that the health of the Gulf of Mexico depends on. If the Mississippi Delta is sick, we are all in trouble and the Delta is suffering.
Tab Benoit has been an active proponent of addressing the health of this region before Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the Gulf Coast. Using his voice, money and his website at www.voiceof thewetlands.org, Tab has worked diligently to focus attention and resources on why we must pay attention to this and all wetlands. At the show and especially to a few fans, including myself, that lingered on Manchester Blvd after the last set, he shared his personal, ominous tales of what is happening in his hometown, Houma, LA where British Petroleum bullies its way out of the mess it made with the recent Deep Horizon oil spill.
At the show Tab’s strongest words were “You just don’t know” (what is going on down there), repeated often. He also encouraged all to come down and see what is really going on and just how scary a multi-national corporation, based in another country can be when it gets the power to throw people of their land because they are in the way. Tab encouraged everyone to understand my favorite phrase” We the People” means you and I have to participate to protect our constitutionally given freedoms because interests beyond that document are threatening it.
Having said that, if want to check out a great line up at a free concert next weekend, drive on down to Houma, LA and spent October 8, 9, and 10th at the Southdown Plantation for the VOW Festival 2010.
http://voiceofthewetlands.org
That free music festival which welcomes all levels of participation will feature a lineup that includes; Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Galactic, Waylon Thibodeaux, Steve Juno Zydecosis, Chicken on the Bone, and more. Yes I said FREE!
For those not challenged by motorcycles, there is a ride on October 10th you can sign up for at http://CycleWorldofHouma.com
John “Wudman” Wood
Editor – BluesCityReview.com