TAB
BENOIT
"VOICE OF THE
WETLANDS"
LIVE AT THE NORTH ATLANTIC BLUES
FESTIVAL
PRODUCED AND EDITED BY PAUL E,
BENJAMIN & RICHARD PELLETIER
RECORDED BY JUKE JOINT
VIDEO
BY PETER "BLEWZZMAN" LAURO
- COPYRIGHT MARCH 2007
It must be a drag
going to your favorite blues artist's website and seeing that they will be in
all the cool juke joints in all the big cities while you are living in
Smallsville or Tinytown which are both 50 - 100 miles outside of
Hickton or Blinksburgh which are both 100 - 200 miles from any city
that even has a cool juke joint. I can feel your pain. I'm living in
a big city and I sometimes have to still drive 4 hrs round
trip to a good blues gig. I'm thinking there are some blues fans
out there that may never, or at very best, rarely ever get to see a really good
blues show. To you folks I have only one thing to say, after offering my
sympathy of course, and that's DVD.
One in particular is
TAB BENOIT'S "VOICE OF THE WETLANDS", recorded live at the North
Atlantic Blues Festival. The video features, who every female blues fan
that I know refers to as the hunk of the blues, TAB BENOIT on vocals and guitar,
CARL DUFRENE on bass and DARRYL WHITE on drums.
TAB wastes no time
getting into the groove. On the opening track, "WE MAKE A GOOD
GUMBO", within 15 seconds of being on stage, he's tearing up guitar riffs
and that's pretty much what you can expect throughout the whole nine minute
track. The shows just starting and the crowd is already wild.....Woo
Hoo!
After a brief but
interesting interview about how, what and who got him into the blues,
hosted by PAUL E. BENJAMIN, TAB showcases his excellent vocal ability on
"BLUES SO BAD". The songs wonderful lyrics consist of innuendos
such as "The blues don't sing but it swings", "The blues don't burn but they
smoke" and "The blues come but they don't go". Great song with great close
ups.
Another smoker is a
song which features the words that I'm sure every one of us has used one time or
another....."WHY ARE PEOPLE LIKE THAT?" Between asking why people
do all the dirtbag crap they do to each other TAB lays down some of the best
guitar work on the video. Ladies, ya gonna love this one. Many great
shots of TAB'S intensity on this one.
Those boozers
amongst the bluesers will appreciate "I GOT LOADED". The song
tells of getting loaded last night on a bottle of gin, getting loaded the night
before on a bottle of whiskey and getting ready to get loaded tonight on a
bottle of wine. Watch out the day after tomorrow. Great Delta blues
song.
Dirty doesn't only
describe the dishes, it describes the song as well on "TOO MANY DIRTY
DISHES". This is good old straight up down and dirty blues at it's
best- which always leads to making a particular track my favorite - and this one
is. The singing and guitar work are unreal on this one.
In addition to a
second short interview with TAB about the cause he is heavily involved in -
Saving the Louisiana Wetlands, there is footage featuring scenes of the
picturesque wetlands. The video also features "WHEN A CAJUN MAN GETS
THE BLUES", "THE BLUES IS HERE TO STAY" "GOT LOVE IF YOU WANT
IT", "LOUISIANA MAN" and "LOUISIANA
SUNSHINE".
If you're a T. B.
fan, regardless of whether you've never seen him or you've seen him several
times, you'll love this video. I highly suggest going to www.jukejointvideo.com and picking
one up. And don't forget, when they ask ya how ya heard, tell them it was
from the Blewzzman.