(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Acclaimed Louisiana Bayou blues guitarist Tab Benoit continues his year-long 2023 Tour, performing locally at The Wellmont Theater on Saturday, December 9 at 8:00pm. Dirty Dozen Brass Band will open the night. Benoit is a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and guitarist who has built a remarkable 30+ year career on the foundation of his gritty and soulful Delta swamp blues, acquiring a devoted legion of fans along the way.
Tab Benoit is renowned throughout his thirty-plus-year career for his passionate environmental activism. To that end, he performed two nights in his hometown of Houma, Louisiana at the 16th Annual Voice of the Wetlands Festival. He also appears prominently in the IMax motion picture Hurricane on the Bayou, a documentary of Hurricane Katrina's effects and a call to protect and restore the Wetlands, and produced a CD to help restore that state's Coastal Wetlands. Benoit was inducted into the Louisiana Folklife Center Hall of Master Folk Artists in 2020. Benoit is one of the featured musicians in the Sony Picture Classics 2022 movie JazzFest: A New Orleans Story, Frank Marshall & Ryan Suffern’s documentary on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
One of the most impressive guitarists to emerge from the rich Bayous of Southern Louisiana in recent time, Tab Benoit’s guitar tone can be recognized before his Otis-Redding-ish voice resonates from the speakers. He doesn’t rely on any effects and his setup is simple. It consists of a guitar, chord, and Category 5 Amplifier. The effects that you hear come from his fingers.
The GRAMMY Award-winning New Orleans-based Dirty Dozen Brass Band will open the night. The band has taken the traditional foundation of brass band music and incorporated it into a blend of genres including Bebop Jazz, Funk and R&B/Soul. This unique sound, described by the band as a ‘musical gumbo,’ has allowed the Dirty Dozen to tour across 5 continents and more than 30 countries, record 12 studio albums and collaborate with a range of artists from Modest Mouse to Widespread Panic to Norah Jones. Forty five-plus years later, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world famous music machine whose name is synonymous with genre-bending romps and high-octane performances.
Tickets range from $25-$49 and are available for purchase online. The Wellmont Theater is located at 5 Seymour Street in Montclair, New Jersey. Doors are at 7:00pm, showtime is 8:00pm.
