AN ACTIVE ADVOCATE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LOUISIANA'S  WETLANDS, TAB BENOIT, BORN IN THAT STATE IN 1969, HAS ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS THE SWAMP-BLUES PREMIER CONTEMPORARY ROOTS MUSICIAN AND AN AMBASSADOR OF THE DEEPEST FOUNDATION OF LOUISIANA'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC. FOUNDER OF THE VOICE OF THE WETLANDS ORGANIZATION AND WHISKEY BAYOU RECORDS LABEL, BENOIT TAKES LOUISIANA MUSIC AS AN IMPERATIVE IN TRANSMITTING THE RICHEST AND MOST DIVERSE LEGACY THAT HE HAS INHERITED FROM SEVERAL GENERATIONS THAT HAVE PRECED HIM, THE FUNK OF GATEMOUTH BROWN OR PROFESSOR LONGHAIR, THE BLUES OF SLIM HARPO OR LIGHTNIN' SLIM AND THE ROCK'NROLL OF FATS DOMINO OR DAVE BARTHOLOMEW, NONE OF THESE MUSIC IS FOREIGN TO BENOIT AND ALL ARE PRESENT IN HIS MUSIC. A CRUCIAL ARTIST IN THE BLUES SCENE OF THE LAST THIRTY YEARS, WITH AN ESSENTIAL DISCOGRAPHY AND AN ATTITUDE THAT IS NOT ONLY NECESSARY BUT IRREPLACEABLE. "I HEAR THUNDER" IS HIS SIXTEENTH ALBUM, IN A COMMON LINE OF SONGWRITING SOLIDITY AND GENEROUS AND UNAPPEALABLE PLAYING, TEN SONGS THAT CLAIM THE BEST BLUES OF THE SOUTH IN THE HANDS OF THE BLUESMAN BEST GIFTED TO DO IT. THE BEST INSPIRATION.