Gerry Casey Interviews Tyron Benoit

October 22, 2023

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Making a Scene Brings you Gerry Casey’s Interview with Tyron Benoit

Tyron hails from Houma, Louisiana, where music and culture are plentiful.

“Growing up around the house, I remember hearing a lot of classic country: George Jones, Hank Williams (Sr. and Jr.), Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and Ernest Tubb. Going to my grandpa’s house is where the Cajun and Folk influences came from. He was a fantastic fiddle and harmonica player. But when we left the house, it was Led Zeppelin, Toto, and Steely Dan. Everybody was into classic rock, and it was good!”

Tyron recalls, “I remember the first record I ever owned. It was a Ray Charles album. I must have been around 10 years old. Even when sharing a record player with three other brothers, or when the player finally broke, I just remember holding onto it, 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 ’til much later in life, but looking back, it never left me, holding onto that record, even when I couldn’t play it. Ray Charles is still one of my all-time favorites.”

Tyron had other obligations before focusing on music in his adult life – including a combat tour as a US Marine in Operation Desert Storm. Serving the country put distance between Tyron and a career in show business, but once he returned home, he moved to New York City to study acting. It was in his small West Village apartment where the idea of playing music was planted.

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 him. The pair began playing locally, 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 and Rockies.

Tyron returned to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2003, two years before one of the biggest natural disasters in American history came roaring ashore… Tyron got involved in the rebuilding of a city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, with many neighborhoods without power for weeks on end due to the flooding damage. And during this season of heavy work, the conversation on the job sites often turned to music. Using generators to power amps and guitars – in unfinished houses and buildings, Tyron began holding jam sessions with other contractors. They even called themselves the Bywater Rock Group. It only grew from there…

“When I moved back to New Orleans, I really began to branch out musically, still fueled by that searching. I put myself in situations where I would learn or grow from it. I was super thirsty for exploring beyond the boundaries of what we had played 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 an opportunity to lead a band for Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. He is a true legend, and I knew I was now part of New Orleans musical history.”

Tyron is firmly at home now, with a growing list of gigs, venues, and festivals where he can be seen and heard. He has released the album, “Waiting on Friday,” in May of 2022 and has just finished up his next album with some of the best studio masters in the business. Since the beginning of 2023, Tyron and the band have played the French Quarter Fest and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, One Square Mile Music Festival in Texas, Sunbanks Music Festival in Washington State, the Silver City Blues Festival in New Mexico, and a wide array of other dates and locations… The response – from the sound crews, to the talent buyers and festival organizers, to the crowds – has been overwhelming!

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