Biography

Music has the power to heal, to restore and empower, not only the artist but the listener as well. Lurrie Bell's remarkable new album, Let's Talk About Love, is proof positive of this.

In fact, with Let's Talk About Love, the firebrand Chicago blues guitarslinger – whom the Boston Phoenix declared "the most talented blues guitarist of his generation" – has released his most accomplished, deeply heartfelt album yet. Bell's masterful creation, produced by longtime associate Matthew Skoller, is upbeat, warm, wise, and deeply inspiring, vividly displaying Bell's unshakeable faith in the curative power of the blues.

Let's Talk About Loveis a personal triumph for Bell, who has certainly experienced his share of adversity and come out, as his producer describes, "without any bitterness or anger. Lurrie's a quiet, sweet guy who takes refuge in his music – that's how he survives." In 2007 alone, Bell lost two of the most-loved people in his life: his father, Chicago blues harmonica great Carey Bell; and Susan Greenberg, his partner and the mother of his toddler daughter, Aria (for whom he named his current music label, Aria B. G. Records). Bell had already triumphed over a debilitating bout of mental illness that stretched through much of the '80s and '90s, a period during which he'd even gone homeless for a time – a far cry from the stardom that authoritative publications including the New York Times and Rolling Stone had predicted for this scintillating second-generation bluesman.

In choosing the songs for Let's Talk About Love, "a theme started to emerge," says producer Skoller. "And that theme was love." Rather than selecting songs that would simply serve to vent his frustrations or bemoan his many travails, Bell chose music that was uplifting. "These songs were an inspiration to me," says Bell, "because they relate to what's happening now." Regarding the title track, "Let's Talk About Love" – penned by the late Ray Agee, a semi-obscure L.A.-based blues singer and songwriter – Bell notes," When we started working on it, I hadn't heard it before, but it became one of my favorite blues shuffles. It's telling the truth about love, life and living, right now in 2007."

As with the blues itself, this record covers the full range of emotional expression, guided by Lurrie's probing, adventurous guitar. Bell's searing six-string shards on Andrew Brown's "You Ought To Be Ashamed" and his looming, ominous work on Willie Dixon's "Earthquake and Hurricane" give way to the acoustic romp of "Feeling Good," by venerable Chicago bluesman J. B. Lenoir. Bell's blistering lead guitar adds a completely new dimension to the Little Richard classic, "Directly From My Heart To You," while the rollicking "Chicago Is Loaded With the Blues," another Dixon gem, is a full-bodied, guitar/piano/harmonica shout-out to his hometown.

At the emotional core of "Let's Talk About Love" is Lurrie's voice. It's hard to believe that this force-of-nature blues stylist did not write the album's songs himself, so thoroughly does he make them his own. Bell's personal connection to these words and music is palpable: filtered through Bell's arduous life experiences, tracks like Billy Flynn's "Missing You," Roebuck "Pops" Staple's "Why Am I Treated So Bad," and Hip Linkchain's "Cold Chills" exorcise his pain, transmuting it to pleasure – for artist and listener as well. It's the pleasure of hearing a genuine truth-teller say his piece.

Born December 13, 1958, Bell was raised in a Chicago household naturally steeped in the blues. "Because of my dad there was all kinds of music, growing up in that house," Bell reminisces. All manner of blues greats would regularly drop by to rehearse: guitarists including Eddie Taylor, Eddie C. Campbell, Jimmy Dawkins, and Eddy Clearwater (Bell's cousin); harmonica legends like Big Walter Horton; and equally storied keyboardists including Sunnyland Slim and Muddy Waters sideman Lovie Lee, whom Bell came to regard as his "spiritual grandfather." So it was that at an emphatically young age, Bell taught himself guitar and began playing along during rehearsals. At eight years old, Bell left Chicago to live in Mississippi and Alabama with his grandparents. During this time he played mostly in the church, immersing himself in the passionate expressiveness of the gospel tradition. Soon he was back in Chicago and deep into the blues again.

It was Lovie Lee, Bell recalls with a grin, who "sneaked me into" a South Side nightclub when the young prodigy was fourteen, to make his stage debut. "I don't remember the name of the song," says Bell, "but it was a blues shuffle. I got some good applause for it; it really inspired me to keep going."

At 15, he formed his first band while attending Crane High School on the city's West Side. In 1977 at the age of 17, Bell was a founding member of The Sons of Blues with fellow Chicago blues scions Freddie Dixon (son of Willie) and Billy Branch (son of Ben), and performed that year at the Berlin Jazz Festival presented as the New Generation of Chicago Blues. Soon afterwards the group cut three standout tracks for Alligator Records' Grammy-nominated series Living Chicago Blues. Lurrie also made his first appearance in the recording studio that year with his father on Carey's Delmark album "Heartaches and Pains."

At 20, Bell joined the band of Chicago's acknowledged Queen of the Blues: Koko Taylor and stayed for several years, honing his chops and learning the ropes of being a traveling musician. Bell teamed up again with his father, as a member of Carey Bell's Blues Harp Band. "It was quite an experience," Bell says fondly. "He always told me I sounded as good as his guitarist, Eddie Taylor, and it made me feel good to hear those comparisons."

Bell's recorded output has been prodigious, even despite his lengthy absence from the scene: he has contributed to well over 50 albums, including numerous solo efforts, duets with father Carey, and an extensive list of guest appearances. Since the onset of the new millennium, Bell has been steadily raising his profile; without question, Lurrie Bell is back and better than ever. Bell was voted Most Outstanding Guitar Player in the 2007 Living Blues magazine critics' poll, and was nominated for a 2007 Blues Music Award for Best Guitarist by the Blues Foundation. As producer Skoller's liner notes for Let's Talk About Loveobserve, "Lurrie is now a blues master at a needed time when there are very few blues masters left."

Skoller, who has worked and played with Lurrie Bell for over 25 years, notes, "Being a bluesman is very important to Lurrie; his spiritual connection to the blues is amazing. He feels he's part of a tribe, and he is proud of belonging to the blues legacy – it's who he is."

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."

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