Tab Benoit

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LOUISIANA GUITAR MASTER TAB BENOIT BRINGING REAL BAYOU BLUES TO THE AUDITORIUM AT THE DOUGLASS.

By Brett Fieldcamp

“I’m always fighting with it,” modern blues guitar legend Tab Benoit said about his now nearmythical 1972 Fender Telecaster, the same guitar he’s been playing practically every single day for over thirty years.

For Benoit, the blues is life, but it doesn’t ever come easily. Since starting out in the late 80s, he’s stayed true to his own personal ethos that every night and every performance should be unique, energetic, and above all, authentic.

It’s that belief in raw authenticity that drives him to play his guitar “straight in,” as Benoit puts it, meaning he foregoes all the effects pedals, high-end gear, and digital manipulation of modern guitar tech in favor of plugging his guitar straight into his amp, cranking the volume to 10 and going to work.

“Every time you plug something in between the guitar and the amp, it makes it a little smoother and easier,” Benoit

said. “It takes away a little bit of that pain, and if you’re playing music for people as a way to communicate, you know, it hurts a little. It’s the blues. It’s supposed to hurt.”

Benoit practically lives on the road, touring through literally every month of this year with never more than a couple weeks off at a time, even hitting OKC as recently as July.

For that show, he was at Belle Isle Brewery, belting his rowdy, bayou-born blues alongside beers and steak dinners. When he swings back through on Oct. 12, he’ll be taking the quiet performing arts stage at The Auditorium at The Douglass to an audience of rapt listeners far removed from the barroom backdrop.

To Benoit, a stage is a stage and he’s bringing the same sweltering blues no matter the room.

“I don’t have any set way of doing anything, or any kind of set show,” he said. “There is no ‘show.’ It’s an engine and I just kick-start it and then it’s running. Every show is its own thing, you know, and it’s only going to be that thing for that one time. Like every show is a little baby, and it grows and grows, and when we’re done, we just send it off to college.”

Benoit maintains this seemingly neverending touring schedule even without having released a new album in more than a decade. For him, the blues can’t really be captured in the studio. It’s a living thing, meant to be experienced in person.

With no signs of stopping – or even slowing down – any time soon, Benoit keeps his focus on delivering a one-of-a-kind, all-onthe-field show every night, always chasing down the fleeting, unforgettable moments that can turn a concert into a truly cathartic and communal experience.

Tab Benoit and his band take the stage with support from The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Visit auditoriumatdouglass.com.

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