Tab Benoit Finally Gets His First No. 1 After Nearly 30 Years of Charting

18 September, 2024

New Orleans blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Tab Benoit first debuted on Billboard’s charts in September 1995 with his third studio album, Standing on the Bank. The set opened at No. 12 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart before peaking at No. 9 the following month.

Twenty-nine years later, and after charting 11 more LPs on Blues Albums, he finally earns his first No. 1 this week (chart dated Sept. 21) with I Hear Thunder.

Released Aug. 30 on Whiskey Bayou Records, the album rises from No. 4 to No. 1 on the latest chart, becoming his first career No. 1 album. Here’s a chronological look at Benoit’s history on the Blues Albums chart:

Peak Position, Title, Peak Date

No. 9, Standing on the Bank, Oct, 14, 1995
No. 6, Wetlands, May 11, 2002
No. 4, Whiskey Store with Jimmy Thackery, Nov. 30, 2002
No. 14, The Sea Saint Sessions, July 12, 2003
No. 5, Whiskey Store Live! with Jimmy Thackery, April 3, 2004
No. 4, Fever For The Bayou, April 30, 2005
No. 9, Vow: Voice of the Wetlands, Oct. 29, 2005
No. 14, Brother to the Blues with Louisiana’s LeRoux, May 13, 2006
No. 2, Power of the Ponchartrain with Louisiana’s LeRoux, July 21, 2007
No. 2, Night Train to Nashville with Louisiana’s LeRoux, May, 24, 2008
No. 4, Medicine, May 21, 2011
No. 8, Legacy: The Best of Tab Benoit, May 5, 2012
No. 1, I Hear Thunder, Sept, 21, 2024

(Benoit released two albums prior to Standing on the Bank — What I Live For in 1994 and Nice and Warm in 1993 — though that was before Billboard launched its Blues Albums chart on Sept. 2, 1995. Standing on the Bank debuted on the fifth week the chart existed.)

Benoit’s 13 career entries on the Blues Albums chart is the most in chart history among New Orleans musicians. The only Louisianan with more is the legendary Buddy Guy, from Lettsworth (18). Kenny Wayne Shepherd, from Shreveport, also has 13.

Benoit hails from Houma, La., an hour outside of New Orleans. He’s collaborated with dozens of legendary musicians, including New Orleans’ Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and “Big Chief” Monk Boudreaux, plus Willie Nelson and Charlie Musselwhite.

I Hear Thunder is Benoit’s first release under his own imprint, Whiskey Bayou Records, which he founded with Rueben Williams in 2017.