Lurrie Bell

Biography

Lurrie Bell (born Lurrie C. Bell, December 13, 1958, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player Carey Bell.

Career

Bell started playing guitar at the age of six, and in his teens he polished his skills playing with the legends of Chicago blues scene including Eddy Clearwater, Big Walter Horton and Eddie Taylor.

In the mid-1970s, he joined Koko Taylor's Blues Machine, and he toured with the band for four years. He made his recording debut in 1977 appearing on his father's album Heartaches and Pain and also on Eddie C. Campbell's King of the Jungle. It was around that time that he formed The Sons of Blues with musicians including Billy Branch on harmonica. Three tracks of the band's recordings were featured in the Alligator Records compilation Living Chicago Blues Vol. 3 released in 1978. In 1989 he released his first solo effort, Everybody Wants To Win, on JSP Records.
Though Bell's career appeared to be headed in the right direction, drawing attention of blues fans around the world as a young prodigy of the blues, he battled emotional problems and drug abuse for many years, which kept him away from performing on a regular basis.
He began a comeback in 1995 with the well-received album Mercurial Son×Mercurial Son1995 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Your Daddy Done Tripped the Trigger2:562Your Wild Thing Ain't Wild Enough - (instrumental)3:443Sweet Daddy, Rest in Peace3:144Blues in the Year One-D-one6:505Just One Hour Behind the Sun1:466Lurrie's Cool Groove4:287Tell Me About Your Love4:398Longview, Texas Trainwreck2:349Voo-Doo Whammy #22:5610Lurrie Bell's Hipshank - (Vocal)5:5711Blues All Around Me6:0912West Side Woman3:1213Voo-Doo Whammy #13:0014Your Wild Thing Ain't Wild Enough - (Vocal)3:4415Lurrie Bell's Hipshank - (instrumental)6:12, his first of several from the Delmark label. A series of albums followed thereafter, and he started to perform more frequently in the Chicago club and blues festival circuits.
Bell is featured on Gettin' Up – Live at Buddy Guy's Legends, Rosa's and Lurrie's Home, a 2007 CD and DVD release from Delmark, where he plays with his father, Carey. Soon after this release, Carey died in May 2007, and this became his last recorded effort.
In 2014, Bell won a Blues Music Award for his track "Blues in My Soul×Blues in My Soul18 June 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Hey Hey Baby3:122Blues in My Soul6:033I Feel So Good4:144She's a Good 'Un4:395'Bout the Break of Day6:126Going Away Baby4:16724 Hour Blues3:568My Little Machine5:299I Just Keep Loving Her2:4510T-Bone Blues Special3:2111Just the Blues7:0012South Side to Riverside5:3913If It's Too Late3:5014Blues Never Die5:38", in the 'Song of the Year' category. He was nominated for a similar award in four other categories. In 2015, Bell won a Blues Music Award in the 'Traditional Blues Male Artist' category.
Bell's 2016 album, Can't Shake This Feeling×Can't Shake This Feeling2016 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Blues Is Trying to Keep Up With Me4:112Drifting3:253I Get So Weary4:214One Eyed Woman4:125This Worrisome Feeling in My Heart4:546Sit Down Baby2:587Hold Me Tight2:368Sinners Prayer4:439I Can't Shake This Feeling4:3310Born With the Blues5:5911Do You Hear3:5412Hidden Charms3:5713Faith and Music5:22, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. Matthew Skoller's harmonica work featured prominently on the album, and he was the record producer on Bell's earlier Let's Talk About Love×Let's Talk About Love2007 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Let's Talk About Love2:362Earthquake and Hurricane4:213You Ought to Be Ashamed3:064Why (Am I Treated So bad)3:325Feeling Good3:326Missing You3:357Directly From My Heart to You3:318Cold Chills3:299Chicago Is Loaded With the Blues6:1210My Dog Can't Bark3:4111Turn to Me4:2512Wine Head Woman3:51 and The Devil Ain't Got No Music albums.
He became a 2024 inductee to the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame.

Solo

1989 Everybody Wants to Win (JSP)
1995 Mercurial Son (Delmark)
1997 700 Blues (Delmark)
1997 Young Man's Blues (JSP)
1998 Kiss of Sweet Blues (Delmark)
1998 The Blues Caravan Live at Pit Inn 1982 (P-Vine)
1999 Blues Had a Baby (Delmark)
2001 Cutting Heads (Vypyr)
2007 Let's Talk About Love (Aria B.G.)
2012 The Devil Ain't Got No Music (Aria B.G.)
2013 Blues in My Soul (Delmark)
2016 Can't Shake This Feeling (Delmark)

With Carey Bell

1977 Heartaches and Pain (Delmark) released 1994
1982 Going on Main Street (L+R)
1984 Son of a Gun (Rooster Blues)
1986 Straight Shoot (Blues South West)
1990 Dynasty (JSP)
1994 Harpmaster (JSP)
1995 Deep Down (Alligator)
1997 Father&Son The Blues Collection (BLU GNC 072)
2004 Second Nature (Alligator) (recorded in 1991)
2007 Gettin' Up, Live at Buddy Guy's Legends, Rosa's and Lurrie's Home (Delmark)

Collaborations with other artists

1981 American Folk Blues Festival '81 (L+R)
1982 The Sons of Blues Live '82 (L+R)
1982 Chicago's Young Blues Generation (L+R) with Billy Branch
1991 Rocket Pocket (Bluelight) with Doobie Twisters
1998 Chicago's Hottest Guitars: Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 25 (Wolf) with Phil Guy
2009 Live at Chan's: Combo Platter No. 2 (with Nick Moss & The Flip Tops)
2024 Set Me Free (with Frank Catalano)