When a DJ at WTUL-FM tried to plug one of Tab Benoit’s recent gigs at the Mid City Bowling Lanes, he came up against the young blues guitarist’s surname… and bailed out. Apparently never having heard of Tab -- and unable to discern the pronunciation of “Benoit” (it’s BEN-wa) -- the DJ christened him “that Frenchy guy.”

Tab Benoit is not French, his Gallic last name notwithstanding. Although he has built a modest following in the towns around his Houma base, for the time being he is not exa...