GRAMMY Nominated Guitarist and Louisiana Wetlands Activist Wins Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Awards.

May 11, 2007, Cleveland, OH - Telarc International, one of the world's premier blues and jazz labels, is pleased to announce that guitarist/singer Tab Benoit has won Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year at this year's Blues Music Awards. These awards, formerly the W.C. Handy awards (The Handys) were announced last night at a gala awards dinner in Memphis, TN.

Benoit says, "I appreciate these awards so much. This recognition helps me to bring attention to the wetlands of south Louisiana and to explain to more and more people that we need every ones help to save our land and culture. It was truly an honor to be recognized."

"Tab deserves these awards," says Jason Linder, Director of Marketing at Telarc. "He is an amazing artist and performer, producing serious music that still knows how to have fun."

Born and raised on the Louisiana bayou, Benoit has been the standard bearer for a new generation of Cajun blues musicians - a traditionalist and an innovator at the same time, grafting elements of rock and soul to the indigenous sounds of the bayou. And if dedicating his life to his musical roots weren't enough, Benoit has also been a tireless crusader in recent years - prior to the devastation of hurricane Katrina but even more so since - for the preservation of the rapidly vanishing wetlands of his native region.

Benoit unleashes his passion for his homeland and its music in Power of the Pontchartrain, a new Telarc recording that he co-produced with veteran producer David Z (Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Prince). Also on board for the 11-track ride is LeRoux, the enduring Louisiana-based blues/rock/pop collective that has been a regional mainstay since the late '70s.

Last year, Benoit received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album (Brother to the Blues, CD-83639, released in 2006). In addition, he has also fulfilled his duties as president of Voice of the Wetlands, the environmental organization that he founded in 2003, and played a prominent musical role in Hurricane on the Bayou, a documentary by filmmaker McGillivray Freeman that chronicles life in Louisiana in the aftermath of Katrina. Hurricane on the Bayou is playing in IMAX theaters in the U.S., Canada and Europe throughout 2007.

The Blues Foundation is a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Memphis, TN, the home of the Blues. With more than 160 affiliated Blues organizations, and membership spanning the globe, the Foundation serves as the hub for the worldwide passion for Blues Music. Organized and founded in 1980, The Blues Foundation's mission is to preserve Blues history, celebrate Blues excellence, support Blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. For more information, please visit: http://www.blues.org/about/news.php4?Id=459.

Tab Benoit's Power of the Pontchartrain (CD-83654) is scheduled for release on Telarc on June 26, 2007.