BATON ROUGE — Chris Thomas King's father, Rockin' Tabby Thomas, opened Tabby's Blues Box to reclaim the blues. 

But by the early 2000s, the Baton Rouge club sat vacant on North Boulevard. 

In 2019, however, King helped recreate his father's legacy.

"Louisiana blues had left Louisiana. It went to Mississippi, it went to Chicago, Memphis, New York and everyone claimed this music, but it came from us," King said. 

To help reclaim this legacy, he opened a blues time machine at Red Stick Social in Mid City, where, every Thursday night, there was a Tabby's Blues Box Series, starting with local artists before bringing in big names. 

"Buddy Guy used to play with my dad before he left to go to Chicago, and I'd love to have Buddy Guy come back and give us a play," King said. 

The set at Red Stick Social had the sign from Tabby's, but the real atmosphere couldn't be replicated. 

"I think my dad would be so proud," King said. "The spirit and love that he put into everything he did. We're going to try to stay true to that."