Music
In Praise of Luke Bell
An amazing talent gone too soon
I came across Luke Bell accidentally a few years ago and was instantly smitten.
I listened on repeat. I texted links to the friends I thought were worthy of receiving them. I posted YouTube links whenever I saw people discussing country music on social media. Real country music. Not that stuff on the radio when you think you accidentally turned on the pop station.
That’s what Luke Bell was. Real.
What was it that drew me in so much? Was it the penetrating voice? The tune? The stories he told in his songs?
But other times, oh, I feel like hell, like hell
It was all of those things but also one more. Authenticity. It simply oozes out of the speakers. You can feel his connection to it without knowing anything about the man or the music.
Even while re-listening to “Where Ya Been” for the umpteenth time and trying to figure out exactly what he meant by, “Hey, mister, in the mirror, where’s my friend?” I was drawn to his connection to the song. He wasn’t simply repeating words someone else had written.
It came as no surprise to discover he wrote and produced every song on his one and only album.
When I tried looking him up at the time, all I could find was a couple of Saving County Music articles. There was a flurry of activity in 2016 and then nothing until 2020.
He was described as something of a recluse, an enigma, and a musician who had no interest in being famous.
Luke Bell was in Austin, TX, bumming around the infamous Hole in the Wall bar near the University of Texas campus around 2011, when Mike and the Moonpies, Leo Rondeau, and Ramsey Midwood were the artists-in-residence, and a man named Dennis O’Donnell was the bartender of note. Luke would couch surf around the area, and perform at the Hole in the Wall when they would let him…
…Soon, without any real national touring experience or record label backing, Luke Bell was put on tour opening for names like Willie Nelson, Hank Jr., and Dwight Yoakam.
The tour never materialized. It seemed no one would really say why, and Luke just sort of disappeared from public view. A man who was so dedicated to playing music that he couch surfed and worked as a barback because he wasn’t making enough money to live elsewhere was finally making it big and just… quit?
A man who made some of the best music I’ve ever heard didn’t care to tour or go back in the studio, so he worked odd jobs and slept on couches.
Or so it seemed.
Whatever the reason, it was something I could respect. Very few people can pull off success and authenticity for very long. So if he was a guy willing to do music on his terms, then so much the better.
I was enough of a fan that I periodically searched for updates to see if he was playing somewhere I could road trip to or had a new song to download. Even if he wasn’t doing big tours, maybe he was in a local bar somewhere.
Returning from a motorcycle trip, I sat down to a small-town diner breakfast and was shocked to find this:
Finding out he suffered from bipolar disorder suddenly put his lyrics in a different light.
Kind of like listening to Amy Winehouse before and after her death. And not just “Rehab.” Listen to “Back to Black” and tell me you don’t hear it.
Hey, mister, in the mirror, where’s my friend?
Was he talking to himself and about being bipolar? As if he’s saying, “It looks like the same guy in the mirror, but I don’t feel like it. Where’s the guy who feels good all the time? Where’s my friend?”
Ain’t it funny how nobody saw him leave
I’m not a music critic or someone who obsesses over musicians or bands. I love good music, but I can probably name two guitarists and a handful of lead singers if their name isn’t the band's name. I’m just not someone who is that kind of fan.
So that even I am moved enough by his music and passing to write about him really says a lot about Luke. I hope you enjoy the videos as much as I do.
