Album Notes

Music has the power to heal, to restore and empower, not only the artist but the listener as well. Lurrie Bell’s remarkable new album, Let’s Talk About Love, is proof positive of this. In fact, with Let’s Talk About Love, the firebrand Chicago blues guitarslinger – whom the Boston Phoenix declared “the most talented blues guitarist of his generation” – has released his most accomplished, deeply heartfelt album yet. Bell’s masterful creation, produced by longtime associate Matthew Skoller, is upbeat, warm, wise, and deeply inspiring, vividly displaying Bell’s unshakeable faith in the curative power of the blues. Let’s Talk About Love is a personal triumph for Bell, who has certainly experienced his share of adversity and come out, as his producer describes, “without any bitterness or anger. Lurrie’s a quiet, sweet guy who takes refuge in his music – that’s how he survives.” In 2007 alone, Bell lost two of the most-loved people in his life: his father, Chicago blues harmonica great Carey Bell; and Susan Greenberg, his partner and the mother of his toddler daughter, Aria (for whom he named his current music label, Aria B. G. Records). Bell had already triumphed over a debilitating bout of mental illness that stretched through much of the ’80s and ’90s, a period during which he’d even gone homeless for a time – a far cry from the stardom that authoritative publications including the New York Times and Rolling Stone had predicted for this scintillating second-generation bluesman. In choosing the songs for Let’s Talk About Love, “a theme started to emerge,” says producer Skoller. “And that theme was love.” Rather than selecting songs that would simply serve to vent his frustrations or bemoan his many travails, Bell chose music that was uplifting. “These songs were an inspiration to me,” says Bell, “because they relate to what’s happening now.” Regarding the title track, “Let’s Talk About Love” – penned by the late Ray Agee, a semi-obscure L.A.-based blues singer and songwriter – Bell notes,” When we started working on it, I hadn’t heard it before, but it became one of my favorite blues shuffles. It’s telling the truth about love, life and living, right now in 2007.” As with the blues itself, this record covers the full range of emotional expression, guided by Lurrie’s probing, adventurous guitar. Bell’s searing six-string shards on Andrew Brown’s “You Ought To Be Ashamed” and his looming, ominous work on Willie Dixon’s “Earthquake and Hurricane” give way to the acoustic romp of “Feeling Good,” by venerable Chicago bluesman J. B. Lenoir. Bell’s ferocious slide guitar adds a completely new dimension to the Little Richard classic, “Directly From My Heart To You,” while the rollicking “Chicago Is Loaded With the Blues,” another Dixon gem, is a full-bodied, guitar/piano/harmonica shout-out to his hometown. At the emotional core of “Let’s Talk About Love” is Lurrie’s voice. It’s hard to believe that this force-of-nature blues stylist did not write the album’s songs himself, so thoroughly does he make them his own. Bell’s personal connection to these words and music is palpable: filtered through Bell’s arduous life experiences, tracks like Billy Flynn’s “Missing You,” Roebuck “Pops” Staple’s “Why Am I Treated So Bad,” and Hip Linkchain’s “Cold Chills” exorcise his pain, transmuting it to pleasure – for artist and listener as well. It’s the pleasure of hearing a genuine truth-teller say his piece. Born December 13, 1958, Bell was raised in a Chicago household naturally steeped in the blues. “Because of my dad there was all kinds of music, growing up in that house,” Bell reminisces. All manner of blues greats would regularly drop by to rehearse: guitarists including Eddie Taylor, Eddie C. Campbell, Jimmy Dawkins, and Eddy Clearwater (Bell’s cousin); harmonica