Tab Benoit
THESE BLUES ARE ALL MINE
Vanguard 79546
visit Tab's website
also available on CD Universe
This is a very strong statement by Tab Benoit that he has arrived and emerged from the swamp to stake a claim. He only wrote 5 of the 13 songs on this disc, so he can't claim them in that sense; but with some of his most inspired playing and singing I think he can stake a legitimate claim in that sense to these songs. His previous work has for the most part been partially great with some songs that are quite forgettable, this is a much more consistent disc. Here he works hard for it on the whole disc, and it does pay off for him with a more even and balanced disc for us with 56 plus minutes of hard driving swampy blues. His backing group on this disc sounds great and keeps up with him. He is one of the handful of performers, Tabby Thomas and Johnny Jenkins also manage this, that have that rare ability to combine hard driving blues with the rhythms and sounds of the dark standing waters and draped Spanish moss trees that make up those Louisiana swamps. This is a disc I love to put in the changer and turn up on some of those long, slow and boring drives. It is a very visual disc as it brings hard images to the front of my brain, and at the same time it has that compelling hard driving feel to it that gets you nodding your head and tapping your foot. Listen to the spin he puts on the Hank Williams' classic JAMBALAYA. He injects just that tad more spicy seasoning from his pantry of blues and Zydeco to take the song to a different level without messing with the basic ingredients that has made it the standard it still is today. He does some equally good and interesting things with songs from Albert Collins and Willie Dixon among others. It is when he plays his own songs though that he rips apart the room and leaves it all out there for us to see. Feel the anguish and pain that run rampant in the title cut, THESE BLUES ARE ALL MINE. Both his voice and guitar leave no room for any doubt about how he is feeling, and what his insides are
doing at the moment. As tormented as he is in THESE BLUES, feel the joy of a life lived in the swamp that percolates through in CRAWFISHIN'. Listen to him rave in BAYOU BOOGIE, this is one happy and satisfied man. In earlier discs he has shown flashes of the feel that he demonstrates consistently here. This one is sure as hell a keeper.
Produced by - Tab Benoit and Andy Bradley
Songs, times and writers
- I'M TIRED - 3:25
- CROSSCUT SAW - 2:56 - R. G. Ford
- THESE BLUES ARE ALL MINE - 7:01 - Tab Benoit
- LIGHTS ARE ON, BUT NOBODY'S HOME - 4:03 - Albert Collins
- RAIDED THAT JOINT - 5:43 - Copyright Control
- CRAWFISHIN' - 4:19 - Tab Benoit
- MOTHER EARTH - 3:47 - Chatman/Simpkins
- DON'T LOSE YOUR COOL - 4:29 - Albert Collins
- JAMBALAYA - 3:38 - Hank Williams
- TWENTY NINE WAYS (TO MY BABY'S DOOR) - 3:42 - Willie Dixon
- KEEP YOURSELF FROM CRYING TOO - 4:54 - Tab Benoit
- TRAVELIN' SOUTH - 4:04 - Louise Gwenolyn Collins
- BAYOU BOOGIE - 3:10 - Tab Benoit
Musicians
Allyn Robinson - drums
David Lee Watson - bass
Marc Adams - piano and B3 organ
Tab Benoit - electric and acoustic guitars, vocals