Louisiana blues guitarist, Tabby Thomas, father of Chris Thomas King and owner of Tabby’s Blues Box, a legendary home of blues music in Baton Rouge, died this morning, a few days short of his 85th birthday (January 5, 1929). Thomas was the inspiration for many young Louisiana blues men, including his son, Tab Benoit, Troy Turner, and more. Funeral arrangements are pending.

"King of the Swamp Blues," Tabby Thomas dies at 84.

Born Earnest Joseph Thomas in Baton Rouge, LA in 1929, the young “T-Boo” boy raised on his mother’s Victrola records and in his father’s Baptist church became “Tabby” in high school while playing star quarterback on McKinley High’s football team. Though he was a promising athlete with a yen to coach, and began an early career in the Air Force right out of high school, Tabby Thomas’ deepest passion was music. He recounts his first major inspiration while still in high school in Baton Rouge, enamored by Roy Brown’s trio with B.B. King and Lowell Fulson, and more in a 2003 interview with Robert Fontenot for OffBeat Magazine here.

Like many unsung Louisiana music pioneers, Thomas was donned the king of one genre, but really earned his stripes with his capability to adapt easily to other genres as they rose to popularity, such as rock n roll and even dance music; and through his profound influence on countless other guitarists and blues musicians in future generations.

Earnest "Tabby" Thomas

He recorded with the legendary Excello Records imprint early on, among others, and is perhaps most known as the proprietor of Baton Rouge’s most famous blues club, Tabby’s Blues Box. Unfortunately, the construction of the North Boulevard freeway overpass raized the original music mecca in 2000, after more than 20 years of successful operation. Thomas and his family did try to re-open the Blues Box in another location in Baton Rouge, but it never really caught on and it folded completely by 2004. Nonetheless, Tabby would continue to carry the torch for the blues right up until his death on the morning of New Year’s Day, 2014. There is no doubt that his spirit will continue to influence future musicians through stories of the great mentor.

Chris Thomas King, Rockin’ Tabby’s son and acclaimed blues musician himself, remembers his father here.