By Michael Swanger michael@dmcityview.com

Bell’s blues ring with hope

Lurrie Bell has a right to sing the blues. And no one would blame him if he did.

Lurrie Bell makes his Des Moines debut as a bandleader when he plays Blues on Grand on Friday at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10

In January 2007, the 49-year-old singer-guitarist lost his longtime partner and mother of his 2-year-old daughter (Aria), blues photographer Susan Greenberg, to lymphoma. Later that May, his father, the legendary harmonica player Carey Bell, who once held down the harp chair in Muddy Waters’ band, died of heart failure. Their deaths came at a time when Bell had finally turned the corner both personally and professionally following a debilitating bout with mental illness and drug abuse that stretched through much of the ’80s and ’90s and left him homeless for a time.

Instead of relapsing — as those who knew his troubled past feared — Bell found salvation in the blues and recorded his most hopeful album to date, “Let’s Talk About Love.” Produced by harmonica player-friend Matthew Skoller and released on Bell’s own record label named after his daughter, Aria B.G. Records, “Let’s Talk About Love” reflects a deeper understanding of love that goes beyond the mournful or joyful 12-bar blues we have come to know. Though the album doesn’t include any original material, songs like Billy Flynn’s “Missing You,” Pops Staples’ “Why Am I Treated So Bad,” Willie Dixon’s “Earthquake and Hurricane” and Hip Linkchain’s “Cold Chills” reflect Bell’s trials and tribulations.

“It tells me after all that happened that it’s time to be more aware and to have a more positive attitude when it comes to daily life and to keep going,” Bell said. “I’ve got my guitars and some harps around here, and I just have a ball playing music — that drives some of the blues and grief I have with the passing of Susan and my father.”

His toddler daughter, Bell added, also inspires. “It’s a great feeling having her in my life,” he said. “She’s cheering for me to keep going on, and in her own little way, I think she’s proud of me.”

Bell was a youngster himself when he learned the power of the blues. As a child he would sit in on rehearsals with his father’s band when they would practice at his house. “They had a guitar lying around, wasn’t nobody playing it, and I picked it up and my heart told me that’s what I’m supposed to do — play guitar,” he said.

At age 15, Bell formed his first band while attending high school on Chicago’s West Side. Two years later, he helped co-found The Sons of the Blues with fellow Chicago blues descendants Freddie Dixon (son of Willie) and Billy Branch (son of Ben Branch) and performed that year at the Berlin Jazz Festival. That same year, 1977, Bell made his first recording appearance with his father on the Delmark Records release, “Heartaches and Pains.”

At age 20, Bell joined Koko Taylor’s band, where he honed his playing, before teaming up with his father and soon establishing himself as one of the most promising traditional blues guitarists on the scene. During the ’80s, when his health began to deteriorate, Bell would frequent jams at Chicago’s many blues nightclubs. Though some doubted his ability to live up to his capability as a full-time, professional musician during those trying years, Bell said he never lost touch with the music.

“I kind of lost touch with myself, but the music was always with me even when I was at the wrong place at the wrong time doing different things I wasn’t supposed to be doing,” Bell said. “Even when I was homeless and went through all of that, I never did give up on music. I knew deep down inside I had the gift to play music. That brought me back to my senses.”

Bell said his health is excellent these days and that he is closer to his music than ever before. He credits Greenberg for helping him find professional help and the right medication to regain his confidence to perform again. The couple not only endured Bell’s illness, but they also lost a set of twins within a span of five months after they were born premature in 2002.

“It’s God’s work, and you can’t do nothing about it,” Bell said, adding the music has sustained him, and he practices or performs nearly every day. He also has been spending more time playing the harmonicas his father left behind.

“I think he knew deep down inside that I was going to do what he did and get off into the harmonica,” Bell said. His father started as a bass player and slide guitarist before fronting his own band with the harp. “I think I got some of the traits my dad had.”

One of those traits includes a deep understanding of hard time blues, and that to play them you have to persevere despite overwhelming obstacles.

“You’ve got to pay your dues and go through some changes to play the real low down blues,” Bell said. “You’ve got to say to yourself ‘God gave me a gift.’ You’ve got to accept this is what you’re supposed to be doing with your life — playing the music you love. It’s a healing thing.

“I want people to know that if you’re going through some changes listen to the blues. I’m here as a witness to say the blues is what we all need to hear sometimes.”

Scene notes

Mainstream country singer Martina McBride brings her “Waking up Laughing Tour” to Hilton Coliseum on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $47.75. Country-rocker Jack Ingram and Lady Antebellum share the bill. … Iris Stevenson, the choir director whose life and music inspired the movie “Sister Act 2: Back to the Habit,” will conduct a two-day workshop for Roosevelt and Hoover High School students Jan. 30-31. A concert featuring choirs from both schools will be held Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. at Roosevelt Auditorium. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for adults. … Natalie MacMaster, the acclaimed Celtic fiddler and dancer, plays Stephens Auditorium Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $35.50. … Ha Ha Tonka, the Ozarks-based rock band whose music is equal parts empty bottle and bible, play a 9 p.m. free show Feb. 1, at the Brenton Student Center on the campus of Simspon College in Indianola. … Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux brings his “Images of Metheny” concert to the Salisbury House Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. where he will perform “The Bat” by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny as well as songs by other composers. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students. Call 274-1777. … The Nadas release their new album, “The Ghosts Inside These Halls,” on March 4 on their own Authentic Records label. They play People’s Court March 8. … Cirque du Soleil presents “Saltimbanco” at Wells Fargo Arena April 10-13. Tickets, $41-$91, go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through the arena’s box office and Dahl’s Foods. Call (866) 55-DAHLS or visit www.dahlstickets.com. CV

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