Recently Heard: Brother to the Blues by Tab Benoit

Tab Benoit: Brother to the Blues

The best review of this, of course, was when Brandon put on the headphones and listened to it at the store. His eyes lit up, his grin grew wider, and his whole body moved with the music.

The other stuff we listened to he just moved a little and smiled a little.

There is a strong country music element to this - the pieces I like best have more pronounced blues guitar, no matter how countryish the vocals get. Tab is a real good electric blues player - makes that Strat do what it's supposed to be doing.

The mix - the brotherhood, I suppose - of country and blues shows up best in tracks like Tab's own composition Somehow - the vocals start off with a lot of old time country influence, and then after an exceptional quiet bluesy solo, they vocals come back sounding purely of the blues.

If you absolutely despise country, this probably won't win you over - unless you're a die-hard blues fan. In that case, it may be enough to show you that they are closely related, and they helped each other out during their early years of development. If you're a guitarist, this recording has some excellent playing - but it's not really a guitarists album with endless, expansive solos. If, like Brandon, you like music that moves you, this would be worth checking out.