ARCHIVES

LURRIE BELL

2008 Living Blues Magazine Blues Artist of the Year!

www.lurrie.com

	photo by Tim Holek

Lurrie Bell has overcome personal demons and devastating emotional setbacks to enjoy the rewards of his labours.

The deaths of both Susan Greenberg – his long-time partner, and mother of his daughter – and his father Carey Bell in 2007 left Lurrie reeling.  But with new found determination, Bell released what might be his best record to date – Let’s Talk About Love – on his own Aria B.G. Records label.  Here, Lurrie pours his heart out in every number and the record stands as testament to producer Matthew Skoller’s remark that “Lurrie is now a blues master at a needed time when there are very few blues masters left.”

Critical approval has been swift:

• voted “Most Outstanding Guitar Player” in the 2007 Living Blues Magazine critics’ poll
• nominated for a 2007 Blues Music Award for “Best Guitarist”
• voted “Blues Artist Of The Year (Male)” in the 2008 Living Blues Magazine critics’ poll
• voted “Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar)” in the 2008 Living Blues Magazine critics’ poll

Given Bell’s musical pedigree, none of these successes should come as a surprise.  Bell, the son of famed Chicago harmonica master Carey Bell, was raised in a Chicago household naturally steeped in the blues.  All manner of blues greats would regularly drop by to rehearse including Jimmy Dawkins, Eddy Clearwater, Big Walter Horton, Sunnyland Slim, and Lovie Lee.  Bell responded by teaching himself guitar and playing along during rehearsals.

Bell made his mark at 17 as a founding member of The Sons of Blues with Freddie Dixon and Billy Branch.  He was quickly becoming recognized as an exceptionally talented guitarist and musician.  And his knowledge of different blues styles, his soulfulness, and his musical maturity elicited favourable reviews in both Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

While Bell continued to grow as a musician, health issues kept him out of circulation for most of the 1980’s.  But Bell persevered and re-surfaced with a succession of critically acclaimed works topped by the 2004 Alligator Records release Second Nature – an acoustic duet record with Carey Bell that was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award for “Acoustic Record of the Year”.

For Lurrie Bell, life right now is, as it has always been, all about the music.  “Being able to record, to get up onstage and perform, makes you want to get up in the morning and face the day,” he says with relish. “Every day.”

Lurrie Bell is back and better than ever!