Tab Benoit w/ Dre and the Collective – $20/25

8pm $20/25

Tab Benoit (BLUES) is a Cajun man who’s definitely got the blues. Born November 17, 1967, he grew up in Houma, Louisiana. A guitar player since his teenage years, he hung out at the Blues Box, a ramshackle music club and cultural center in nearby 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. The nightly impromptu gigs were enough to inspire Benoit to assemble his own band – a stripped down bass-and-drums unit propelled by his solid guitar skills and leathery, Cajun-spiced vocal attack.

www.tabbenoit.com

Dre and the Collective (SOULFUL FOLK)

When Dre decided to start a band in her hometown of Tampa Bay, she knew it made sense to draw on the celebrated roots of successful and talented bands that cut their musical teeth there, such as Tom Petty and Ray Charles. Borrowing from many of the best bands and studio musicians in the region, she took those roots and blended them with her Swedish musical heritage as well as Westcoast Folk influence, to create something new called Dre and The Collective. It started out as a huge 11 piece band called The Tampa Collective, but through writing and experimentation has ultimately settled into a smaller band that grows depending on where they are and who’s available to play…a collective that flows between the blues, Gospel, folk, rock and Americana…sweetened with the strong melodies Sweden is known for.

Comparisons have already been made to such bands as The Dave Matthews Band, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals and First Aid Kit. According to Dre, “To create something new, you need to draw from past sounds and mix them with your point of view, your unique voice and experiences…then go paint your own picture”…and that’s exactly what Dre and The Collective are doing.

www.dreandthecollective.com