Cover Story: Lurrie Bell
Lurrie Bell
The Power Of Love
Chicago bluesman Lurrie Bell, 50, is currently riding the crest of a transglobal wave to promote his critically acclaimed new CD, Let’s Talk About Love (Aria BG). Love is Bell’s musical tribute to his guiding lights: Susan Greenberg, his life partner and the mother of their daughter Aria, and his famous father, harmonica player Carey Bell.
Appearing: January 19th at Rosa’s Lounge in Chicago.
But the album isn’t a knowing wink or a doff of the cap. In a life consumed by heartache, Bell recently lost both. Greenberg succumbed to lymphoma in January 2007, closely followed by father Carey to heart failure in May.
That Lurrie Bell hasn’t succumbed to life as well might come as something as a surprise to those who lost track of him 20 years ago. Toward the end of the ’80s, Bell fell into a deep depression, beset by paranoia and mood swings that would eventually develop into full-blown mental illness. He lost interest in his career. He heard voices. He found himself wrestling with the secular musician’s age-old dilemma between the sacred and the profane — the church versus the blues. A decade of erratic behavior ensued as Bell was in and out of psychiatric institutions and, when not, outright homeless.
He would still stop by B.L.U.E.S or Kingston Mines though, and occasionally be called up to jam. Strangely, the disorder in his mind did not affect his playing. Musically he was as creative and compelling as ever, even if these recoveries were only shortlived. Bell was only learning then, but continues today to channel his grief and sadness in the most positive way he could imagine: the healing power of music.
Music has been the one constant in Bell’s life since childhood. “I remember when I first picked up the guitar,” he says during a chat at Buddy Guy’s Legends. “I had to be no older than 5-years old. When I first picked up the guitar and got a real taste of what blues was . . . I picked up the guitar and started playing automatically. I guess you could say I had the ear for it. I could hear something and I could play it on the guitar.”
Carey Bell was impressed with his young son’s ability. He encouraged Lurrie to hang out and play along during house-held rehearsals with guitarist Eddie Taylor Jr. (whom the younger Bell cites as a pivotal influence), harmonica master Big Walter Horton (a mentor to both Bells), and pianists Lovie Lee (Carey’s adoptive father and Lurrie’s “spiritual grandfather”) and Sunnyland Slim, among others.
At 8-years old, Bell’s life of upheaval began when he was separated from his family (he had numerous brothers and sisters) and sent to live with his grandparents in Mississippi and Alabama. In Alabama, boarding with his maternal grandparents, Bell expanded his musical horizons playing gospel in church. He enjoyed participating in services and was urged on by an appreciative congregation despite the fact the blues was frowned upon down south. Bell’s brand of musical alchemy allowed him to mix the blues with some more traditional fare. “I was playing gospel, but when I would do solos, and improvise on the guitar, they would be blues solos. For some reason I never forgot about the blues.”
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