Browsing: Tab Benoit

The arts will hold our hands through the darkness. These are the backstories of five artists who provided us with survival soundtracks for the year that never seemed to end.

As Monk tells it, the song comes from his mother’s words, as he was growing up: “She used to tell me that all the time when I was a kid. She used to say ‘Shut up, you think you be a preacher?’ Ha ha ha. She always said the right thing.”

Tab is homegrown, but his dexterity on guitar is needle-sharp, and his rapport with an audience likewise in need of musical therapy was nothing less impressive than what I’d expect from an Apollo Theater crowd on a hot Saturday night in Harlem.

“Lyrically it reflects a turbulent time in our nation’s history when it was hard to know who and what to believe at any given time.” – Alastair Greene

Bloodstains and Teardrops is an excellently produced album from a near-octogenarian cultural and musical icon

On ‘Bloodstains & Teardrops’ – Big Chief Monk Boudreaux connects the early music of the slaves in New Orleans Congo Square to the Caribbean as he demonstrates its similarities in lyrical, musical, and cultural content.

“Lyrically it’s a tough one to get through when I sing it because it conjures up so many memories of people in my life that are no longer with us. It’s bitter sweet.” – Alastair Greene

“Having made my reputation as an electric guitar player, performing and recording solo acoustic is something I wanted to do to really challenge myself.” – Alastair Greene

‘The New World Blues’ is the record we need in exactly the time we need it. A roller-coaster of emotion with a big ‘ol splash of hope at the end

“I think this one [Below Sea Level] has a couple of things that maybe follow a traditional structure but, I’ve always felt like the blues is a feeling and it’s not necessarily a pattern.”