Blues musician Tab Benoit to perform at Bayou Regional Arts Fest in Houma

Here’s how to hear the musician topping the blues charts next weekend in Houma for free.

The Bayou Regional Arts Festival is Friday, Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12 and features more than 14 musical performances. Admission is free. Tab Benoit will be performing from 9:30 to 11 p.m. Oct. 12. Benoit currently is touring in support of his first new album in 13 years, "I Hear Thunder," which topped the Billboard Blues Album Chart.

Other performances include: Nonc Nu and da Wild Matous, Tyron Benoit, Randy Jackson, and the Josh Garret Band.

The festival has grown since last year and will feature three stages: the Bayou Arts Main Stage, the White Boot Stroll Stage and the Cultural Collective Stage. The main stage will be at the intersection of Barrow and Main St. The boot stage will be at the bandstand in Courthouse Square, and the cultural stage will be at the intersection of Lafayette and Main St.

This year the festival opened the doors to other cultures to showcase unique arts.

“We invited any culture that wanted to come represent their culture in the way they thought their culture was best represented,” Bayou Regional Arts Council Executive Director Genie Ardoin said. “We let them come to us and say, ‘This is what’s important in our culture.’”

According to Ardoin, some of those who signed up are the Cumbia Colombiana Band, The Cajun Music Preservation Society, African American Drumming, a traditional Mexican dancing Mexico Lindo, and performances by the United Houma Nation.

There also will be a VIP section, where those who pay $150 will get front row seats to the musical performances, a private area in Memorial Park and a special bourbon tasting of top-shelf whiskeys.

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Ardoin said last year’s festival brought in about 15,000 attendees. She said this was based on data provided by Explore Houma, which is created through cell phone and credit card data.

Proceeds this year will go toward art programs for six parishes — Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption, St. John, St. James, and St. Charles — like the new program Notes for Kids. The program is providing free band instruments for school children whose families could not otherwise afford them. The children will be identified through schools’ guidance counselors.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Blues musician Tab Benoit to perform at Bayou Regional Arts Fest in Houma