Wetland, Heated Words: Tab Benoit

KNOWN FOR HIS SOFT-SPOKEN humility as an entertainer, Louisiana bluesman Tab Benoit is positively outspoken and outraged as a wetlands activist.

When asked about winning the Blues Foundation's Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year award earlier this month, his response is grateful and blunt: "To be acknowledged is a good thing. I've pretty much done things my own way and didn't follow that carrot on the stick."

But ask him about the problems facing his home state, and he reveals himself to be an artist who is engaged, informed and angry.

Yet, perhaps thanks to the twang in his voice or the measured optimism in his sentences, he never sounds scolding, just gently encouraging. "I'd really love to see some things change," he says. "I'm pretty passionate about it."

Benoit is equally passionate about the blues, but comes across as a musician who prefers saying everything onstage, speaking eloquently through his gruff vocals and signature Cajun-flavored riffs.

He recorded his latest album, "Night Train to Nashville," in front of a sizable audience at the Place on 2nd in May 2007, with guests like Americana singer Jim Lauderdale and former Fabulous Thunderbird Kim Wilson.

As to his relentless touring schedule and reputation for intense live shows, he's predictably modest: "Blues is an improvisational genre. It's a live medium. I'm a live artist, so I play live."

» State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church; Fri., 9 p.m.; $16-$21, 703-237-0300.

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photo by Darren Ray