The swampy, bluesy musical stew that has simmered forever in fertile Louisiana soil has always produced great music. Early jazz and blues flourished there. Cajun influences added spice.

Musicans today can steep in that blend of culture and music and come away with best of then and now.

This is the long way of introducing a new album (due out April 22) by a young but old-soul Louisiana son, Tab Benoit -- "Night Train to Nashville" (Telarc), recorded live in Nashville just before last year's Blues Music Awards.

He's backed here by Louisiana's LeRoux, a fine and tight band that does all the right musical things in all the right places.

There's also a little help from Kim Wilson (duet on the rocking "Too Sweet for Me") Jimmy Hall (on the swampy "Rendezvous With the Blues,") Jim Lauderdale (on the tough and tender "Moon Comin' Over the Hill") and Johnny Sansone (on the stark "Fever for the Bayou"), among others.

It's a very solid album, fueled by Benoit's smart guitar, smoky vocals and crafty songwriting. The songs are filled with the roots of his music, drawing influences like a sucking chest wound.

The closing "Stackolina," with Wilson and Waylon Thibodeaux on washboard is an inventive Cajun twist on an old standard.

One of my favorites (it's hard to chose) here is "Solid Simple Things," a bluesy shuffle with a country swing, a few bouncy organ riffs, and guitar that come together in a profoundly simple thing.

You could do a lot worse than chose this album as your entry into Louisiana blues.

Benoit has a bunch of other albums, moving in and out of this style, all worth a listen. He seems like one of those genuine musicians who feels what he does, and does what he feels. Trite? Maybe, but the music is not.