Biography

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Carey & Lurrie Bell
Gettin' Up
Live at Buddy Guy's Legends, Rosa's and Lurrie's home
Delmark DE 791

The amazing aspect of the gig at Rosa’s Lounge is that Carey made it at all. Illness nearly forced him to remain at his Charlotte, N.C. home. Carey had a stroke, fell and broke his hip and was in the hospital four weeks. Three days after he left the hospital Carey was in a car going to Chicago. Just as wondrous as the harpist’s steely resolve to join his son for the show is the fact that Carey was clearly at the absolute top of his harp-blowing game. Born November 14, 1936 in Macon, Miss., Carey started playing harp at age eight, made his first album, Carey Bell’s Blues Harp (Delmark 622), in 1969 and spent time in the bands of Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon during the ’70s. The first time a teenaged Lurrie ever played guitar in a studio was on Carey’s ’77 album Heartaches and Pain (Delmark 666). Lurrie played in Koko Taylor’s Blues Machine for a year-and-a-half and teamed with Carey to wax a 1984 album, Son of a Gun, that deftly exhibited their musical empathy. By crossing musical paths anew, father and son fulfill a shared destiny that once seemed unlikely when Lurrie was battling personal demons. He’s since triumphed over them to assume his rightful place as one of Chicago’s top blues guitarists. In tandem with his dad on this disc, he’s more brilliant and focused than ever. Complete notes by Bill Dahl enclosed.

At Rosa's Lounge July 27, 2006

1. What My Mama Told Me 5:14
2. Gettin' Up 7:13
3. Baby Please Don't Go 3:34
4. Bell's Back 4:01

At Buddy Guy's Legends October 21, 2006

5. One Day 5:44
6. Leaving In The Morning 2:53
7. Last Night 7:47
8. Low Down Dirty Shame 5:12

At Lurrie's Home July 28, 2006

9. Broke And Hungry 6:41
10. When I Get Drunk 4:51
11. Short Dress Woman 5:16
12. Stand By Me 2:44

Carey Bell, vocals, harmonica
Lurrie Bell, vocals (3,12), guitar
Roosevelt Purifoy, piano
Bob Stroger, bass (1-4)
Joe Thomas, bass (5-8)
Brian "BJ" Jones, drums (1-4)
Kenny Smith, drums (5-8)
Scott Cable, guitar (3, 5-8)

Also available on DVD (Delmark DVD 1791)


Delmark Records, 4121 N. Rockwell, Chicago, IL 60618 • www.delmark.com
CP 2007 Delmark




At Rosa's Lounge July 27, 2006
1. What My Mama Told Me 5:14 (Amos Blakemore, Bluesharp Music Co., BMI)
2. Gettin' Up 7:13 (Carey Bell Harrington, Sue-Kay Music, ASCAP)
3. Baby Please Don't Go 3:34 (Joe Williams, P.D.)
4. Bell's Back 4:01 (Carey Bell Harrington, Sue-Kay Music, ASCAP)

At Buddy Guy's Legends October 21, 2006
5. One Day 5:44 (Carey Bell Harrington, Eyeball Music, BMI)
6. Leavin' In The Morning 2:53 (Walter Jacobs, Arc Music Corp., BMI)
7. Last Night 7:47 (Walter Jacobs, Arc Music Corp., BMI)
8. Low Down Dirty Shame 5:12 (Carey Bell Harrington, Eyeball Music, BMI)

At Lurrie's Home July 28, 2006
9. Broke And Hungry 6:41 (John Estes, P.D.)
10. When I Get Drunk 4:51 (Henderson/Sample/Vinson, P.D.)
11. Short Dress Woman 5:16 (John "J.T. Brown, Arc Music Corp., BMI)
12. Stand By Me 2:44 (Traditional, P.D.)

Album Production and Supervision: Robert G. Koester and Steve Wagner
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Steve Wagner, Eric Butkus and Dave Katzman
Mixed and mastered at Riverside Studio, Chicago
Photography: Steve Wagner
Design: Dave Forte/ForDzine


Sometimes the right words can be hard to find at a father-and-son reunion. They may resort to non-verbal methods to express the special bond that exists between them, to convey love without actually uttering the word. In the case of the two blues legends featured on this disc–harmonica virtuoso Carey Bell and his brilliant guitar-playing offspring Lurrie–the easiest way to grasp how they feel about one another is by watching and listening to the spellbinding blues they play together. In front of packed houses at a pair of 2006 Chicago shows, the communication lines were so wide open between the pair that it rendered verbiage superfluous.
The amazing aspect of their July 27 gig at Rosa’s Lounge is that Carey made it at all. Illness nearly forced him to remain at his Charlotte, N.C. home instead of making the trip north. “Carey had a stroke and fell and broke his hip. Literally, he was in the hospital four weeks. I picked him up Friday, took him home, and we were in the car by Monday going to Chicago,” says his North Carolina-based guitarist, Scott Cable. “The Friday I went to get him out of the hospital, I walked in and I was wearing shorts. And the first thing he did was laugh at my legs, and the second thing he said was, ‘How are we gonna get this wheelchair up on stage?’”
Just as wondrous as the harpist’s steely resolve to join his son for the show and these recordings is the fact that Carey was clearly at the absolute top of his harp-blowing game. He was so pleased to be playing in front of friends and family that he debuted a new song conceived especially for the occasion. “Gettin’ Up” conveys the major lift he was feeling from playing his blues, and it’s an apropos title for this collection.
“Carey was talking to people, because he knew the people were wondering how healthy he was, and they were worried. And he wrote that song in the hotel the night before,” says Scott. “What a great tune. I said, ‘When’d you do that?’ He said, ‘I wrote it last night!’”
Long celebrated as a blues harp master, Carey is a direct stylistic descendant of Little Walter and Big Walter Horton who came up hellbent on inventing his own signature flourishes on the instrument. Born November 14, 1936 in Macon, Miss., he started playing harp at age eight and gigged with the combo of his “adopted stepfather,” pianist Lovie Lee, in Meridian when he was 13. The pair arrived in Chicago during the mid-’50s, Carey getting his feet wet playing on the streets and occasionally in South and West Side taverns.
“I caught hell for a while,” he told me a few years ago. “I wasn’t old enough to get into the clubs. I kind of caught it rough. I had to get a day job and all that stuff. But sometime I could slip in. I used to play out in Gary in them roadhouses, and I could get in out there.” Soon he encountered the great Little Walter. “He was the king, you know,” said Bell. “There ain’t nobody playin’ like that now. I met him in Chicago on the West Side at a club called the Zanzibar. He taught me a whole lot of stuff too.” Horton was another major influence on Carey’s emerging approach. “I believe I know more of Big Walter’s stuff than I do Little Walter’s stuff,” he said. “But I changed it though. Because I wanted to try to find me a style of my own. So I don’t know what I did, but everybody says I sound different.”
For a time, Carey played bass guitar to augment his musical income. “I picked the bass up after I got to Chicago. At one time, harmonicas had died down in Chicago. They wasn’t using harmonica players. They used sax and all that kind of stuff. Walter, James Cotton, and Junior Wells, they were doing pretty good. But being that I was a newcomer, I was catching the devil,” he said. “You know Honeyboy Edwards? I was staying with him for a while. I was banging around on his guitar, and that’s how I learned how to play bass--on his guitar,” Carey noted. “Big Walter was the first guy I played bass for, after I caught myself learnin’.”
Carey played his electric bass behind slide guitar great Robert Nighthawk on Maxwell Street, but the switch wasn’t permanent. He made his first album, Carey Bell’s Blues Harp, in 1969 for Delmark. Carey spent time in the bands of Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon during the ’70s, developing a sound as distinctive as that of his idols. He also sired 15 children, several of whom became blues musicians themselves. In addition to Lurrie, born December 13, 1958, there was Steve (who picked up the harp like his old man), bassist Tyson, and drummer James.
The first time a teenaged Lurrie ever played guitar in a studio was on Carey’s ’77 album for producer Ralph Bass (unissued then, it’s now available on Delmark as Heartaches and Pain, Delmark 666). The next year, he pulled double duty on Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues anthologies, backing Carey on the first volume and teaming with harpist Billy Branch to head the new generation Sons of Blues on the third installment. Lurrie played in Koko Taylor’s Blues Machine for a year-and-a-half and teamed with Carey to wax a 1984 album for Rooster Blues, Son of a Gun, that deftly exhibited their musical empathy.
By crossing musical paths anew, father and son fulfill a shared destiny that once seemed unlikely when Lurrie was battling personal demons. He’s since triumphed over them to assume his rightful place as one of Chicago’s top blues guitarists during a comeback that’s chronicled on a series of acclaimed Delmark albums. In tandem with his dad on this disc, he’s more brilliant and focused than ever–a development Carey took unequivocal note of.
“He’d tell me over and over on the way back from Chicago,” says Scott. “He said, ‘That’s the best I’ve ever heard Lu sound!’”
A day after the Rosa’s show, Carey repaired to the home of Lurrie and his wife, longtime companion, photographer Susan Greenberg, to engage in some intimate duets. Carey’s sublime vocal on the desolate “Broke And Hungry” takes on a conversational intimacy, while the wry “When I Get Drunk” glistens with more stunning harmonica over his son’s unerring rhythm axe.
Taking over the microphone for the day’s final number, Lurrie changes the mood by launching into a solo version of the gospel perennial “Stand By Me.” Dedicating his effort to Susan and their baby daughter Aria, it’s a tour de force, Lurrie’s heartrending vocal wrenched from the very depths of his soul. Its inspirational message assumes additional significance now; on January 20, 2007, Susan made her transition after living through lymphoma.
The special musical bond between two generations of Bell blues royalty shines through every selection on this set. You’ll feel the love from first note to last–and the sheer power of two master musicians who know how to communicate without ever saying a word.
–Bill Dahl
SOURCES
Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories, by David Whiteis (Urbana IL & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2006)
The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia, by Robert Santelli (New York: Penguin Books, 1993)

Special thanks to Susan Greenberg, Mama Rosa, Tony Mangiullo and the entire staff at Rosa’s Lounge, Buddy Guy, Brian Fadden, Dave Katzman and the entire staff at Buddy Guy's Legends, Bruce Iglauer, Scott Cable, Rick Bates, and Todd Seefeld at Guitar Remedies.

Other Delmark albums of interest:
Carey Bell, Heartaches And Pain (666) with Lurrie Bell
Blues Harp (622) with Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Dawkins, Pinetop Perkins
This Is The Blues Harmonica (746) with Junior Wells, Little Walter, Carey Bell…
This Is The Blues Harmonica, Volume 2 (780) w/ Junior Wells, Big Walter, Carey Bell…
Sourthside Chicago Blues (912) with Robert Jr. Lockwood, Carey Bell…
Lurrie Bell, Blues Had A Baby (736)
Kiss Of Sweet Blues (724) with Dave Specter
700 Blues (700)
Mercurial Son (679)
Blues Guitar Greats (697) with Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Lurrie Bell...
Tail Dragger, My Head Is Bald (DVD 1782, CD 782) with Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch
Mississippi Heat, One Eye Open, Live at Rosa's (DVD 1783, CD 783) with Lurrie Bell


Delmark Records, 1 800 684 3480, 4121 N. Rockwell,
Chicago, IL 60618
www.delmark.com
CP 2007 Delmark Records