Night Train to Nashville

The Baton Rouge-born bluesman has always worn his Southern Louisiana roots proudly, in terms of his musical influences and the thick, swampy tone of his hollow-body Fender. Recorded live in Music City in May of 2007, just shy of Benoit’s 40th birthday, Night Train to Nashville shows that, two decades into a steady blues career, the singer and guitarist has matured gracefully from young phenom to seasoned stage veteran. Louisiana’s LeRoux, who backed Benoit on his GRAMMY-nominated album Brother to the Blues in 2006, provides the support here as well, and several special guests offer worthy contributions. Jim Lauderdale joins the fray on the delightful country-tinged shuffle “Moon Comin’ Over the Hill” and Wet Willie’s Jimmy Hall blows harp on “Rendezvous With the Blues,” which finds Benoit offering jazzy, B.B. King-style sophistication. Harmonica whiz Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds is on board for a pair of tracks, including a sizzling back-porch version of “Stackolina,” featuring just Benoit on guitar, Wilson on harp, and Waylon Thibodeaux on washboard.