A guitar player since his teenage years, he hung out at the Blues Box, a music club and cultural center in Baton Rouge run by guitarist Tabby Thomas. Playing guitar alongside Thomas, Raful Neal, Henry Gray and other high-profile regulars at the club, Benoit learned the blues first-hand from a faculty of living blues legends. He formed a trio in 1987 and began playing clubs in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He began touring other parts of the south two years later and started touring more of the United States in 1991- and he continues to this day.
Benoit landed a recording contract with the Texas-based Justice Records and released a series of well-received recordings, beginning in 1992 with Nice and Warm, an album that prompted comparisons to blues guitar heavyweights like Albert King, Albert Collins and even Jimi Hendrix. Despite the hype, Benoit has done his best over the years to maintain a commitment to his Cajun roots— a goal that often eluded him when past producers and promoters tried to turn him and his recordings in a rock direction, often against his better instincts. These Blues Are All Mine, released on Vanguard in 1999 after Justice folded, marked a return to the rootsy sound that he’d been steered away from for several years.
That same year, he appeared on Homesick for the Road, a collaborative album on the Telarc label with fellow guitarists Kenny Neal and Debbie Davies. Homesick not only served as a showcase for three relatively young but clearly rising stars, but also launched Benoit’s relationship with Telarc that came to fruition in 2002 with the release of Wetlands —arguably the most authentically Cajun installment in his entire ten-year discography.
On Wetlands, Benoit mixes original material like the autobiographical “When a Cajun Man Gets the Blues” and the driving “Fast and Free” with little-known classics like Li’l Bob & the Lollipops’ “I Got Loaded,” Professor Longhair’s “Her Mind Is Gone” and Otis Redding’s timeless “These Arms of Mine” (Tab’s vocal style has long been influenced by Redding).
Later in 2002, Benoit released Whiskey Store, a collaborative recording with fellow guitarist and Telarc labelmate Jimmy Thackery as well as harpist Charlie Musselwhite and Double Trouble—the two-man rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton that backed Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Benoit, in 2003, released Sea Saint Sessions, recorded at Big Easy Recording Studio (better known among musicians in the region as Sea Saint Studio) in New Orleans. In addition to Benoit and his regular crew—bassist Carl Dufrene and drummer Darryl White—Sea Saint Sessions includes numerous guest appearances by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Cyril Neville, Brian Stoltz and George Porter.
That same year, Benoit and Thackery took their dueling guitar show on the road and recorded a March 2003 performance at the Unity Centre for Performing Arts in Unity, Maine. The result was Whiskey Store Live, a high-energy guitar fest released in February 2004.
Benoit's 2005 release is Fever for the Bayou,which also includes guest appearances by Cyril Neville (vocals and percussion) and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (vocals).
An interview with Tab Benoit:
http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/tab_benoit.html
Rainy day blues
Tab Benoit Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Rainy in the afternoon
Cloudy in the mornin'
Rain in the afternoon
If you don't like this weather
Think you better pack your things and move
But if you're runnin' from it, brother
But if you're runnin' from it, brother
The only road that I can see
Is the road that leads to nowhere
And nowhere is a fool like me
Rain keep a fallin'
Fallin' 'round my window pane
Rain keep a fallin'
Fallin' 'round my window pane
Ain't never seen so much rainy weather
Guess I'll never see the sun again
Save those dimes and nickels
Save 'em for a rainy day
Save your dimes and nickels, baby
Save 'em all for a rainy day
It ain't gonna keep the rains from fallin'
Ah but at least you know you've paid your way
In "Rainy Day Blues," Tab Benoit comments on the dismal weather and the effect it has on people. The opening lines, "It's cloudy in the morning, rainy in the afternoon" set the tone for the rest of the song. Benoit suggests that if you don't like this weather, pack your things and move. However, if you run away from it, you may end up on the road to nowhere, which is where he sees himself. Rain keeps falling around his windowpane, and he doesn't think he'll ever see the sun again.
The chorus, "Save those dimes and nickels, save them for a rainy day," is a popular adage that suggests you should save money for the future when times are tough. It's not going to prevent the rain from falling, but at least you know you've paid your way. In this song, Benoit uses the phrase to suggest that you should prepare for the worst and try to be optimistic.
Line by Line Meaning
It's cloudy in the mornin'
The sky is overcast during the morning
Rainy in the afternoon
It starts raining during noon
Cloudy in the mornin'
The weather is gloomy in the morning
Rain in the afternoon
The sky becomes covered with clouds in the afternoon, followed by rain
If you don't like this weather
If you're not fond of such climate changes
Think you better pack your things and move
You should consider relocating to a different place
But if you're runnin' from it, brother
But if you're trying to escape it by fleeing
The only road that I can see
The only option available to me
Is the road that leads to nowhere
It's a path that leads to a dead end
And nowhere is a fool like me
There's no direction which would make me feel good about myself
Rain keep a fallin'
Rain continues to pour down
Fallin' 'round my window pane
Water droplets are falling around the edges of the glass pane of the artist's window
Ain't never seen so much rainy weather
The singer has never seen so much rainfall
Guess I'll never see the sun again
The singer does not expect to see the sun for quite some time
Save those dimes and nickels
Keep aside those small denominations of money
Save 'em for a rainy day
Save them to be used in the future during tough times
It ain't gonna keep the rains from fallin'
It won't prevent it from raining
Ah, but at least you know you've paid your way
But, at least, you have made an attempt to be prepared for tough times by saving money; it gives peace of mind
Writer(s): Willie Nelson
Contributed by Charlie O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.