Tab Benoit has something to do with Jason King’s full circle return to the Crystal Bay Casino.
A guitarist-singer, King will be accompanied on Friday night by drummer Brad Scribner and bassist Jonathan Barton. The trio performs as the Red Room after-party at the conclusion of Tab Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Revue in the Crown Room.
A longtime blues player from Reno, King started playing professionally in a trio. He later had a full band that represented the Biggest Little City at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. He followed that up with another IBC appearance playing in a duo. Now, he says he’s gone full circle by playing again in a trio.
“Tab was responsible for the three-piece format when I first started,” King said. “I always dug that power trio with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. But I didn’t think that I could pull that off. Then I saw Tab doing that.”
King met him after a show in The Garage, a venue in what is now the Grand Sierra Resort. The charismatic Louisianan had four words profound words of advice for King: “Just fucking do it.”
“It was cool the way he said it,” King said. “He’s a charming guy. He had a little smirk on his face and his Louisiana accent — I can still hear it in my head.
“I told him I wanted another guitar player or horn or keyboard player before I started gigging out. But I also told him I liked his format. And he looked at me and said with that accent, ‘Well what’s the problem then? Just fucking do it.’ ”
Several years later in 2013, King spoke with Benoit at the Sin City Soul and Blues Revival in Las Vegas. King was surprised Benoit remembered him.
“I told him that he gave me some advice and I ran with it,” said King, who again saw the Benoit smirk and heard the accent.
“I told you, just fucking do it,” Benoit said.
– Tim Parsons
- Tab Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Revue
Featuring Eric McFadden and Eric Johanson
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8
Where: Crystal Bay Casino Crown Room (seated show)
Tickets: $25
Red Room after-party: Jason King Band
