For over 40 years, Marc Benno has been giving blues, rock, and pop an unmistakable Texas flavor. A singer/songwriter who plays the guitar and piano, Benno is best known as a behind-the-scene force, who has helped some of rock and blues greatest talents sound even better. The list of legends he’s worked with includes The Doors, Eric Clapton, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bill Wyman, Georgie Fame, Rita Coolidge, Eddie Murphy and Leon Russell – with whom Marc recorded two albums under the name Asylum Choir in the late 60s.
Born in Dallas, Benno grew up immersed in popular music – his father managed the Texas State Fair’s Music Hall garden. Backstage, Benno met stars like Sam Cooke, Laverne Baker,Frankie Avalon, Paul Anka, the Drifters and Lloyd Price. But, the first album Benno remembers hearing was Lightnin’ in New York, by the legendary Lightnin Hopkins (a rural-blues guitarist who lived in Houston.)
Still in his early teens, Benno started his own regionally successful pop/R&B group, and in the mid-1960s headed to Los Angeles to further his career, a move he says put him «in the right place at the right time.» His blues background made him sought after by rock groups looking for some rootsy authenticity. One day, he was tapped to play on an album by the psychedelic rock greats The Doors. The sessions were for the classic L.A. Woman (1971), the group’s last LP before Jim Morrison’s death. «I didn’t know who they were,» Benno recalls. «But they needed someone who could play a bluesy, Texas guitar.»
Event: Marc Benno / Honeyboy Edwards
Venue: Regattabar
Location: Charles Hotel, One Bennett St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 7:30pm
Ticket Price: $25
Event Information Contact: 617.661.5000
Event Specific Website: http://www.regattabarjazz.com
He also recorded a pair of albums with Leon Russell as the Asylum Choir. Benno fondly remembers crashing in Russell’s closet, and working with a plethora of musicians who would hang out and jam. One of them was Eric Clapton, who played guitar on two tracks from Benno’s 1979 album Lost in Austin: «Last Train» and «Chasin Rainbows.»
«Clapton was a down-to-earth guy,» Benno says of the man nicknamed «God» by his fans. «Even though he’s from England, he reminds me of someone from Texas, so down to earth and humble and into the blues.»
With his career on the rise, Benno struck a deal with A&M Records in 1970 to launch a solo career. He released three albums, 1970s self-titled album, 1971’s Minnows and 1972’s Ambush. After Ambush, Benno formed a new band, Marc Benno & The Nightcrawlers, who were primed to become the next big thing, and went off on tour opening for Humble Pie and The J. Geils Band – getting star treatment on tour. One of the Nightcrawlers was a young guitarist named Stevie Vaughan (he’d start using Ray later). Benno remembers with pride, «He didn’t sing – he’d just play the hell out of the guitar.» However, the label had grown bearish on the prospects for blues-based rock. The multi-talented Benno could have easily shifted into a pop career, but he was committed to becoming an even better blues guitarist, and the Nightcrawlers album was never picked up by A&M.
During 1974-75, his childhood influences came full circle when he joined Lightnin Hopkins’ band as 2nd guitar player. Benno attests to Hopkins’ colorful personality. «He was dead serious about music, because he was the real thing. You had better know how to play the blues to be around him.» «One
