Tickets are $10 - INSIDE STAGE
Doors at 6pm, Show at 8pm
Tyron Benoit hails from Houma Louisiana where music and culture are plentiful. The singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist had other touring obligations before focusing on a career change — one of the first was a combat tour as a US Marine in Desert Storm. Serving the country put distance between Tyron and a career in show business, but once he returned home he headed to New York City to study acting. It was in his small West Village apartment where the idea of playing music would become part of his journey.
Throughout life, music was always relevant in the Benoit home, but it wasn't until Tyron moved to New York that he began writing and playing songs over a speakerphone with his brother Tate, who was living in Colorado. The two wrote a set of originals and Tyron eventually moved to Colorado to join Tate. The pair began playing mountain towns, becoming a hometown favorite, performing regularly at Herman's Hideaway. It wasn't long until Tyron on guitar, Tate on bass, and a revolving door of drummers named themselves Too Fish and headed out on the road, playing blues and rock clubs throughout the Midwest.
Tyron recalls, “I remember my first record I ever owned, it was a Ray Charles record. I must have been around 10 to 12 yrs old. Even when sharing a record player with three other brothers, or when the player finally broke, I remember just holding on to it, or hiding it, like it was a piece of treasure. Little did I know how valuable it really was in terms of musical influence. I wouldn’t realize that till much later in life, but looking back, it never left me, holding on to that record even when I couldn’t play it. Ray Charles is still one of my all-time favorites.”
“Growing up, around the house, I remember hearing a lot of classic country: George Jones, Hank Williams (Sr. and Jr.), Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Ernest Tubb. Going to my grandpa’s house is where I think the Cajun and Folk influences came from. He was a fantastic fiddle and harmonica player. But when we left the house, it was ‘Get the Led Out!’ (Led Zeppelin), Toto and Steely Dan. Everybody was into Classic Rock and it was good!”
In 2003 Tyron returned to Louisiana and moved to New Orleans. He began playing keyboards and guitar with local bands and jamming everywhere that they would let him sit in. "When I moved back to New Orleans I really started to branch out musically, still fueled by that searching. I put myself in situations where I knew I was going to learn or grow from it. I was super thirsty for exploring beyond the boundaries of what we had been playing on the road. I started playing with many other musicians, and bands: reggae, funk, rock, whatever and wherever I could grab a bite of something, I was trying to get a taste. I even had the opportunity to lead a band for Big Chief Monk Boudreaux which was one of the highlights of this musical journey. He is a true legend, and for my short tenure, I felt like I was now a part of New Orleans musical history.”