ALWAYSBACK

6599 - TAB BENOIT - Medicine (2011)

TAB BENOIT
''MEDICINE''
APRIL 26 2011
50:12

1 /Medicine
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/5:47
2 /Sunrise
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/3:45
3 /A Whole Lotta Soul
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/5:30
4 /Come and Get It
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/3:10
5 /Broke and Lonely
Johnny Otis / Johnny "Guitar" Watson/5:32
6 /Long Lonely Bayou
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/4:33
7 /In It to Win It
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/4:01
8 /Can't You See
Michael Doucet / Augie Meyers/4:16
9 /Nothing Takes the Place of You
Toussaint McCall / Patrick Robinson/4:01
10 /Next to Me
John Magnie / Tommy Malone/5:01
11 /Mudboat Melissa
Tab Benoit / Anders Osborne/4:36

Tab Benoit /Guitar, Vocals
Brady Blade /Drums
Michael Doucet /Fiddle, Vocals
Cory Duplechin /Bass
Ivan Neville /Hammond B3
Anders Osborne /Guitar, Vocals (Background)

REVIEW
By Hal Horowitz
This is the usually prolific Louisiana guitarist Tab Benoit's first studio album in nearly four years, and although all his releases are top shelf, this one is slightly better. He teams up with New Orleans transplant Anders Osborne, who not only plays second guitar (press notes say B.B. King's famous "Lucille" was used for these sessions) but also co-writes seven of the eleven songs. Other high-profile bandmembers include Ivan Neville, Beausoleil's Michael Doucet, and drummer Brady Blade. In addition, noted roots producer David Z. recorded the project, bringing even more high wattage talent to the proceedings. Since 2003, Benoit has been an active spokesman and president for the Voice of the Wetlands environmental organization so, not surprisingly, the subject matter of some of the material leans toward the state of the bayou. That's especially true in "A Whole Lotta Soul," where Benoit sings "what you gonna tell the spirit/when the heart of the bayou bleeds" and "In It to Win It" that leads off with the line "I was born inside this Delta." Musically, Benoit sticks to his patented blend of soul, rock, blues, and Cajun, often mixed in the same song. His voice has attained a lived-in grit, always present but now somewhat accentuated by production that is spacious yet full. The electric set includes one unplugged tune; "Long Lonely Bayou" features just Benoit on acoustic and Doucet on fiddle. It's a highlight that finds the singer sounding as torn and frayed as the bluesmen who have been such a large part of his influences. He goes pure soul-blues on Toussaint McCall's slow dance classic "Nothing Takes the Place of You," this disc's Otis Redding-styled '60s entry, and rips into the lyric with tearful regret nearly equal to the original. The lovely and passionately sung Osborne-Benoit tune "Sunrise" treads similar territory. The closing zydeco rhythm of "Mudboat Melissa" allows both Doucet and Benoit to open up and solo against a festive, driving Louisiana backbeat. But the album's most riveting moment is arguably its opening title track, where Benoit and band tear into a tough, grinding, stomping blues-rocker that builds tension as it progresses and finds both guitarists unleashing slashing riffs on a song that might be Benoit's most powerful recorded performance. While nothing after quite tops it, lots comes close, making this one of the guitarist's finest overall efforts and well worth the extended wait.

BIOGRAPHY
By Richard Skelly
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Tab Benoit makes his home near New Orleans in Houma, Louisiana. Born November 17, 1967, he's one of a handful of bright rising stars on the modern blues scene. For most of the 1990s and into the 2000s, he's worked each of his records the old-fashioned way, by playing anywhere and everywhere he and his band can play. Unlike so many others before him, Benoit understands that blues is not a medium in favor with 50,000-watt commercial rock radio stations, so as a consequence, he's combined each of his releases with as many shows as he can possibly play. Since the release of his first album for Justice, Benoit has taken his brand of Cajun-influenced blues all over the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Nice and Warm, his debut album for Houston-based Justice Records, prompted some critics to say he was sometimes reminiscent of three blues guitar gods: Albert King, Albert Collins, and Jimi Hendrix.

Although the hard-working, modest guitarist scoffs at those comparisons, and doesn't think he sounds like them (and doesn't try to sound like them, either), Benoit doesn't appear to be one who's easily led into playing rock & roll instead of his down-home blend of swamp blues and East Texas guitar-driven blues. Talk to Benoit at one of his shows, and he'll tell you about his desire to "stay the course" and not water down his blues by playing items that could be interpreted as "alternative" rock. Despite the screaming guitar licks he coaxes from his Telecaster and his powerful songwriting and singing abilities, Benoit's laid-back, down-to-earth personality off-stage is the exact opposite of his live shows.

Benoit's releases include Nice and Warm (1992), What I Live For (1994), Standing on the Bank (1995), and Live: Swampland Jam (1997), all recorded for Vanguard. Benoit then moved over to the Telarc label for These Blues Are All Mine (1999), Whiskey Store (2002, with Jimmy Thackery), Wetlands (2002), and The Sea Saint Sessions (2003). In 2004, Benoit released Whiskey Store Live, recorded with Thackery on the support tour for Whiskey Store. Fever for the Bayou was released on the Telarc label in 2005, a year that also also saw Voice of the Wetlands come out on Rykodisc. Another album from Telarc, Brother to the Blues, appeared in 2006. Power of the Pontchartrain and Night Train to Nashville followed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, while 2011 saw the release of Medicine, which featured seven songs co-written by Benoit and Anders Osborne among its 11 tracks. Considering that many of Benoit's records have surpassed the 50,000 mark, he seems well on his way to a career that could rival the kind of popularity the late Stevie Ray Vaughan enjoyed in the late '80s.