Biography

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Lurrie Bell
Can’t Shake This Feeling
Delmark DE 847

The blues is pounding through his blood stream all the time. He is a true blues original. A deep blues man. Lurrie Bell is a unique artist. A civic, no, a national treasure. - Tom Marker, Producer and Host of Blues Breakers on WXRT and Blues Time on WDCB

1. Blues Is Trying To Keep Up With Me 4:11
2. Drifting 3:25
3. I Get So Weary 4:21
4. One Eyed Woman 4:12
5. This Worrisome Feeling In My Heart 4;54
6. Sit Down Baby 2:57
7. Hold Me Tight 2:36
8. Sinner’s Prayer 4:43
9. I Can’t Shake This Feeling 4:33
10. Born With The Blues 5:59
11. Do You Hear 3:54
12. Hidden Charms 3:57
13. Faith And Music 5:22

February 24-26, 2016

Lurrie Bell, vocals, guitar
Roosevelt Purifoy, piano, organ, Rhodes
Matthew Skoller, harmonica
Melvin Smith, bass
Willie Hayes, drums



1. Blues Is Trying To Keep Up With Me 4:11 (Lurrie C. Bell, Eyeball Music, BMI)
2. Drifting 3:25 (Eddie Boyd, Arc Music, BMI)
3. I Get So Weary 4:21 (T-Bone Walker, Lord And Walker Publishing, BMI, Admin. By Wixen Music Publishing Inc., BMI)
4. One Eyed Woman 4:12 (Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis, Earwig Music, BMI)
5. This Worrisome Feeling In My Heart 4:54 (Lurrie C. Bell, Eyeball Music, BMI)
6. Sit Down Baby 2:57 (Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI)
7. Hold Me Tight 2:36 (Milton Campbell-Oliver Sain Jr., Conrad Music, BMI)
8. Sinner’s Prayer 4:43 (Lowell Fulson-Lloyd C. Glenn, Unichappell Music, BMI)
9. I Can’t Shake This Feeling 4:33 (Lurrie C. Bell, Eyeball Music, BMI)
10. Born With The Blues 5:59 (Buster Benton, Ben Publishing Co., BMI/Pollyday Publishing, BMI/Lurrie C. Bell, Eyeball Music, BMI)
11. Do You Hear 3:54 (Carey Bell Harrington, Eyeball Music, BMI)
12. Hidden Charms 3:57 (Willie Dixon, Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI)
13. Faith And Music 5:22 (Lurrie C. Bell/Dick Shurman, Eyeball Music, BMI)

Album Production and Supervision: Robert G. Koester
Produced by Dick Shurman
Recorded February 24-26, 2016 at Riverside Studio, Chicago by Steve Wagner
Mixed by Steve Wagner, complicated by Dick Shurman
Photography: Art Voytovich, Art Priv Amol
Design: Noah Adetunji
Thanks to: Dave Katzman, Matthew Skoller, Rick Bates and Lurrie’s support network


“I love Lurrie Bell.” That’s not just me saying that, that’s what everybody says. Someone might ask me where’s the good blues tonight and I’ll say that Lurrie Bell is playing over at Rosa’s. The response? “I love Lurrie Bell.” They ask, who’s playing at the fest today? Well, there’s Lurrie Bell on the Front Porch Stage. “I love Lurrie Bell.” Who’s playing the gig this Tuesday? What’s a cool new record out now, Tom? When the answer to questions like these is Lurrie Bell, the response is, “I love Lurrie Bell.”

I know someone who claims that the real blues ended somewhere in the mid to late fifties. That from there on musicians grew up listening to any number of different kinds of music in addition to blues. Or maybe they came to the blues when they first heard it as a teenager. Whatever, this friend’s claim was that from that point on the blues was watered down. But Lurrie was born into the blues. Lurrie heard the blues and only the blues when he was still in the womb. Lurrie’s father was one of the heaviest cats in Chicago Blues. He played with Muddy Waters, he was part of Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars. Carey Bell was one of the most highly regarded of Chicago’s blues harmonica players and played with all the greatest of his era. By the time Lurrie was a young man he was one of those people that his father most often played with. So the Chicago blues scene was Lurrie’s extended family. Lurrie grew up drenched in the blues.

I was first really noticing Lurrie when another friend of my commented about him. This friend was a musician and even though I’ve listened to a lot of blues for a long time, nobody listens to music like a musician does. This guy said to me that whenever he listens to blues players he can hear their influences. This riff came from this player, he got his tone from this cat, he’s playing this break like so and so did. But the reason he was so taken with Lurrie is that he heard none of that. Lurrie is an original. All those sounds he plays are just coming right out of his head. And his heart and his soul.

If you see Lurrie at an early evening gig and after the show you ask him what he’s doing he’ll usually say, “Oh I’m going to B.L.U.E.S.,” or, “I’m headed to The Mines.” Of all the blues artists in Chicago I think Lurrie is the one most likely to be sitting in with someone else. This is just what he does. He just can’t stop playing. To paraphrase John Lee Hooker, the blues is in him and it’s gotta come out. With Lurrie the blues is pounding through his blood stream all the time. He is a true blues original. A deep blues man. A unique artist. A civic, no, a national treasure.

So who has the cool new record out. Well, there’s this one by Lurrie. Really? I love Lurrie Bell.


- Tom Marker, June, 2016

Other Delmark albums of interest:
Lurrie Bell, Blues In My Soul (829)
Blues Had A Baby (736)
Kiss Of Sweet Blues (724) with Dave Specter
700 Blues (700)
Mercurial Son (679)
Eddie C. Campbell, Spider Eating Preacher (819) with Lurrie Bell
It Ain’t Over, Delmark Celebrates 55 Years of Blues (800) with Lurrie Bell,
Zora Young, Tail Dragger, Jimmy Johnson…
Carey and Lurrie Bell, Getting’ Up (DVD 1791, CD 791) Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends,
Rosa’s Lounge and Lurrie’s home
Carey Bell, Heartaches And Pain (666) with Lurrie Bell
Tail Dragger, My Head Is Bald, Live at Vern’s Friendly Tavern (DVD 1782, CD 782)
with Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch, Jimmy Dawkins
Detroit Junior, Blues On The Internet (777) with Lurrie Bell, Jimmy Dawkins
Mississippi Heat, One Eye Open, Live at Rosa’s Lounge (DVD 1783, CD 783)
With Lurrie Bell

Management and booking:
Rick Bates/Nancy Meyer
www.batesmeyer.com
Tel: (909) 547 0504

CP 2016 Delmark Records
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Chicago, IL 60618
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