Two of today's top Contemporary guitarists, Tab Benoit and Samantha Fish, co-headline a special Socially-Distanced Concert together at Peace Concert Hall, 300 S. Main St., Tuesday, April 6. Showtime: 7:30pm. All ages. Face masks required for entry. Tickets: $40.-$60. Info: (864) 467-3000 or visit https://tickets.peacecenter.org/Online/mapSelect.asp.
Benoit and Fish recently performed together at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last November. "Tab's warm and disarming stage presence and heartfelt playing...this is an artist whose playing speaks to you as much as the lyrics do," writes Music Connection, in a live review.
One of the most impressive guitarists to emerge from the rich Bayous of Southern Louisiana in recent years, 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 set up is simple. It consists of a guitar, cord, and Category 5 Amplifier. The effects that you hear come from his fingers.
Always known for his environmental activism, performed two nights in his hometown of Houma 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. In Spring 2020 Benoit was inducted into the Louisiana Folklife Center Hall of Master Folk Artists, asnd earlier was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
The Louisiana-based Benoit has been the recipient of five Grammy nominations and multiple Blues Music Awards including twice winning the BB King Entertainer of the Year Award from the Blues Music Association. Benoit's own Whiskey Bayou Record label has thus far released albums by such established artists as Eric McFadden, Alastair Greene, Damon Fowler, Eric Johanson, Jeff McCarty, and Dash Rip Rock.
"That was my mission on this album: To really set these songs up so that they have a life of their own,” says guitarist Samantha Fish about Kill or Be Kind, her sixth solo album and Rounder Records debut, and one that helped her earn a "Contemporary Blues Female Artist" nomination for the 42nd Annual Blues Music Awards in 2021. “Strong messages from the heart – that’s what I really set out for.”
Indeed, what comes across immediately on hearing the album is the extraordinary level of song-craft on its eleven tracks, the way these songs are so smartly put together to deliver a potent emotional impact. Anyone who has ever heard Fish’s previous albums knows that she has earned a place in the top rank of contemporary blues guitarists and that her voice can wring the soul out of a ballad and belt out a rocker with roof-shaking force. Those virtues are fully in evidence on Kill or Be Kind. Each of the songs tell captivating stories, set up by verses that deftly set the scene, choruses that lift with real feeling, and hooks that later rise up in your thoughts. Those qualities make Kill or Be Kind a genuine artistic breakthrough for Fish.
Tab Benoit and Samantha Fish - Tour Itinerary For April 2021
April 6 (Tue.) PEACE CONCERT HALL Greenville, SC
April 7 (Wed.) BERGLUND CENTER Roanoke, VA
April 8 (Thur.) ORANGE COUNTY SPEEDWAY Rougemont, NC
April 9 (Fri.) RURAL HILL Huntersville, NC
April 10 (Sat.) ST. AUGUSTINE AMPHITHEATER St. Augustine, FL
April 11 (Sun.) COCA COLA ROXY Atlanta, GA
