Biography

Click Here for more Delmark Releases!


Lurrie Bell
Blues Had A Baby
Delmark DE-736

1. Givin’ Me A Hard Time
2. Got Me Eyes On You
3. You’re The One
4. Rapid Transit
5. Mean Black Spider
6. Blues Had A Baby
7. Lurrie’s Walk
8. Mean Old Frisco
9. Five Long Years
10. Who Do You Love?
11. Raised On The Blues
12. I’ll Be Your 44
13. If I Had Hammer
14. Mary Had A Little Lamb
15. Rollin’ & Tumblin’

Lurrie Bell, vocals, guitar
Joe Campagna, rhythm guitar
Harlan Terson, bass
Kenny Smith, drums

Arthur Scott, (aka Scott Dirks) harmonica on 6, 10
Joe Moss, guitar replaces Campagna on 3, 7, 10 and 11

Recorded at Riverside Studio, Chicago by Paul Serrano on August 27 and November 22, 1997 except tracks 12 - 15 which were recorded on April 20, 1995

Regardless of how many times one hears Lurrie Bell he will do something to surprise you. To say he is creative and inventive is an understatement - each time he picks up the guitar he seems to have forgotten where the limits are, what boundaries existed the last time he played, and he fearlessly sets out on a new exploration. Blues Had A Baby is as good and honest a representation as you’re likely to find of Lurrie’s talents without popping into a Chicago blues club, having your head spun around by an impromptu 'just sitting in' set by one of the true originals of modern Chicago blues, Mr. Lurrie C. Bell.

Produced by Scott Dirks



It seems everybody on the Chicago blues scene these days has a Lurrie Bell story. About the time they saw him sit in unannounced with one of the elder statesmen of the blues at the Chicago Blues Festival, and pull an otherwise chaotic set out of a nosedive and turn it into a triumph. Or one of the times (and there have been many) he sat in with an established, 'name' blues band, using a $100 copy of a copy of a piece of **** guitar, and left every blues fan in the club slack jawed and stunned with one of his effortless displays of off-hand virtuosity, and the question on their lips, "Who IS that guy?" Or the time he had a club full of previously disinterested yuppies riveted as he reeled off chorus after chorus of restrained and swinging T-Bone Walker-style phrases, each chorus building on the last, each unique and different, sounding like a carefully thought out composition, only just on the edge enough so that you knew he was improvising the whole thing, building to a climax that was as perfect as it was inevitable...

...and then you looked at his guitar, and it's missing three strings. And when
he comes down from the stage, he asks you for a quarter, which he puts in his ear. And when you see him the next day, it's still there.

If ever there was a bluesman who was truly dogged by the hounds of hell, not the mythical ones of blues lore but the real ones that make real people, people who aren't bluesmen, really howl at the moon, it's Lurrie Bell. It's almost a cliche' in blues press releases - "Plagued by personal demons, but blessed by God-given talent" - but it's never been truer than it is with Lurrie. He's been playing guitar and singing the blues professionally for more than 20 years, and most of those years he's been operating at the very fringes of society - sometimes homeless and panhandling, sometimes sleeping at the home of a friend or relative for a while until his unpredictable behavior wears out his welcome. I've known Lurrie for 15 years, and much of that time he hasn't even owned a guitar - he plays borrowed instruments, or one that a well-meaning fan bought for him, which he'll sell or lose before the well-meaning fan's credit card statement with the guitar on it has arrived.

But when he gets a guitar - ANY guitar - in his hands, look out. I've seen him play hundreds of times, and worked on three CDs with him, and every single time I've ever heard him play, he does something that surprises me. He invents a new lick that I've never heard anyone try before, he plays an old lick in a way no one has thought of before, he inserts a phrase from a song he heard on the radio that day into his solo, and it all, always, comes out as blues. To say he is creative and inventive is an understatement - each time he picks up his instrument he seems to have forgotten where the limits are, what boundaries existed the last time he played, and he fearlessly and without hesitation sets out on a new exploration. It's not always great music, not by the generally accepted notions of popular "greatness" - sometimes there's dissonance, and harshness, and sharp, uncomfortable angularity. But even within that there is usually
something at least interesting, sometimes strikingly unique and original, and often an uncanny amount of depth and...soul.

Where it all comes from, who knows? It's possible that like many emotionally
troubled people, Lurrie's creative process is unfiltered by what 'can' and 'can't', or 'should' and 'shouldn't' be done. He doesn't know or care or simply forgets that certain things are impossible, so he finds a way to do them, because that's the only way to get the sound in his head to come out of the guitar. He explores territory that more studied guitarists would fear to tread, if they ever thought about going there at all. If they even suspected that the territory existed. The expression 'troubled genius' gets used a lot when talking about Lurrie.

This CD puts Lurrie in a setting similar to the ones that he most often plays in when sitting in with various bands around Chicago. All of the players have backed Lurrie in clubs, and were ready and able to follow him wherever was necessary. The mood of the sessions was informal and fun, with the band just laying down a comfortable foundation for Lurrie to grab hold of and take off from. A few of the songs are examples of Lurrie simply launching into something, and the band fell in, and the tape was rolling. Nothing too fancy, but all blues, and as good and honest a representation as you're likely to find of Lurrie's talents without popping into Rosa's Blues Lounge on the West Side on a random Thursday night and having your head spun around by an impromptu 'just sitting in' set by one of the true originals of modern Chicago blues, Mr. Lurrie C. Bell.
--Scott Dirks

1. Givin’ Me A Hard Time (Mack Simmons, A1 Dud, Ghana Music, BMI) (5:06)
2. Got Me Eyes On You (Otis Smothers, Leric Music, BMI) (3:59)
3. You’re The One (James A. Lane, Arc Music, BMI) (2:54)
4. Rapid Transit (Arthur Scott, BMI) (3:04)
5. Mean Black Spider (Traditional, P.D.) (4:34)
6. Blues Had A Baby (McGhee/Morganfield/Scott, Watertoons/Scott, BMI) (4:27)
7. Lurrie’s Walk (Lurrie Bell, BMI) (6:26)
8. Mean Old Frisco (Arthur Crudup, Crudup Music/Universal-Duchess Music, BMI) (3:22)
9. Five Long Years (Eddie Boyd, Embassy Music, BMI) (5:19)
10. Who Do You Love? (Ellas McDaniel, Arc Music, BMI) (4:07)
11. Raised On The Blues (Bell/Scott, BMI) (3:22)
12. I’ll Be Your 44 (Lurrie Bell, Leric Music, BMI) (4:01)
13. If I Had Hammer (Traditional P.D.) (6:36)
14. Mary Had A Little Lamb (Buddy Guy, Mic Shau Music Co., BMI) (3:15)
15. Rollin’ & Tumblin’ (Traditional P.D.) (4:40)

Production Note:
The last four songs on this CD were recorded in April of 1995 during the sessions for Lurrie’s Mercurial Son (Delmark 679). After one unproductive and somewhat frustrating recording session we decided to throw in the towel on the day’s work, and as everyone was leaving I asked Lurrie if there were any other songs he would like to do. Lurrie said he had some ideas, and went back into the studio. He then reeled out eleven or twelve songs in a row backed by only his guitar, and luckily by the second or third one Delmark chief Bob Koester had made sure that someone had put a microphone in front of Lurrie, popped in a DAT tape and hit the record button. Part rough and ragged, part soulful and beautiful, these raw recordings are pure Lurrie. With the exception of "I'll Be Your 44", I don’t think I’d heard him do any of them like this since, but we liked these enough to share them with you as a few extra bonus tracks. We hope you like them too.
-Scott Dirks

Produced by Scott Dirks
Album Production and Supervision: Robert G. Koester
Photography: Susan Greenberg
Design: Kate Hoddinott

Other Delmark Albums Of Interest:
Lurrie Bell, Kiss Of Sweet Blues (724) with Dave Specter
700 Blues (700)
Mercurial Son (679)
Carey Bell, Heartaches And Pain (666) with Lurrie Bell
Blues Harp (622) with Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Dawkins, Pinetop Perkins
Aron Burton, Good Blues To You (727) with Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch...
Blues Guitar Greats (697) with Magic Sa, Buddy Guy, Lurrie Bell...
Jimmy Burns, Leaving Here Walking (694)
Night Time Again (730)
Johnny B. Moore, Live At Blue Chicago (688)
Troubled World (701)
Steve Freund, "C" For Chicago (734) with Boz Scaggs, Kim Wilson


Delmark Records
4121 N. Rockwell
Chicago, IL 60618
C P 1999 Delmark Records
www.delmark.com