Ed Bell (musician)
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Ed Bell (musician)
OR:
Ed Bell (musician) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Ed Bell (born May 1905, died 1960, 1965 or 1966) was an American
Piedmont blues Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melo ...
and
country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
singer, guitarist and songwriter whose identity has only recently been verified by historians. Some of his
records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...
were released under the pseudonyms Sluefoot Joe and Barefoot Bill from Alabama. His best-remembered
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...
is "Mamlish Blues".
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...
noted in the ''
Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...
'' that "Bell stands as the most influential Alabama artist in pre-war blues recordings."


Biography

Bell was born on the Davis Plantation, near
Fort Deposit, Alabama Fort Deposit is a town in Lowndes County, Alabama, United States. Since 1890, it has been the largest town in Lowndes County. At the 2010 census the population was 1,344, up from 1,270 in 2000. It is part of the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistica ...
. As a child he moved with his family to
Greenville, Alabama Greenville is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,374. Greenville is known as the Camellia City, wherein originated the movement to change the official Alabama state flow ...
. An older cousin, Joe Pat Dean, took Bell to
Muscle Shoals, Alabama Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...
, in 1919, where he learned to play the blues. In the early 1920s, Bell worked in agriculture and performed as a blues musician, often with his friend Pillie Bolling. He performed many times in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. His debut recording, of his own songs "Mamlish Blues" and "The Hambone Blues," was part of a four-song session for
Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramount Records was formed in 19 ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
in 1927. The word ''mamlish'' is of unknown origin; it was used in several blues recordings of that period. He next recorded in April 1929, cutting eight songs for
QRS Records QRS Music Technologies, Inc. is an American company that makes modern player pianos. It was founded as Q•R•S Music Company in 1900 to make piano rolls, the perforated rolls of paper read by player pianos to reproduce music. The company also ...
, billed on the releases as Sluefoot Joe, with Clifford Gibson playing guitar and piano. The rest of his recordings were made in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, in 1929 and 1930, and released by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
; on these records, he was billed as Barefoot Bill from Alabama. Bell and Bolling played together on two tracks, "I Don't Like That" and "She's Got a Nice Line". Bell's own songs of that time include "Squabbling Blues", recorded on April 20, 1930, in which the singer, close to death, asks that if people are unable to agree on who should have his body, then it should be thrown in the sea, so they would "quit squabblin' over me". Barefoot Bill's songs tend to themes of imprisonment and voodoo. Eventually tiring of the life of a traveling blues musician, Bell became a Baptist preacher, married and settled in
Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
. Bell died in Greenville in 1960, 1965 or 1966. One source suggests that he may have died during a
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
march; other sources suggest that his death was due to
natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...
, murder on account of his involvement in the civil rights movement, or
black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 145 ...
.


Legacy

His influence has been noted in the 1970s work of
John Lee John Lee may refer to: Academia * John Lee (astronomer) (1783–1866), president of the Royal Astronomical Society * John Lee (university principal) (1779–1859), University of Edinburgh principal * John Lee (pathologist) (born 1961), English ...
.


Compilation discography

* ''Ed Bell's Mamlish Moan'' ( Mamlish, 1983) * ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order 1927–1930: Mamlish Blues'' (
Document A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" or ...
, 2008)


See also

*
List of Columbia Records artists A partial listing of recording artists who currently or formerly recorded for Columbia Records (known in most of the world as CBS Records prior to 1991) include the following list. 0–9 * 24kGoldn * 3LW (So So Def/Columbia) * 3rd Bass ...
*
List of country blues musicians The following is a list of country blues musicians. A * Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900, Jewett, Texas – April 16, 1954). Singer, a forebear of Texas blues. He did not play a musical instrument but was backed by such artists as ...
*
List of Piedmont blues musicians The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle) is a type of blues music, characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the guitar in which a regular, alternating-thumb bassline pattern supports a melody using the treble strings. Th ...


References


External links


Discography at Wirz.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Ed 1905 births 1960s deaths Year of death uncertain People from Lowndes County, Alabama American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Blues musicians from Alabama Songwriters from Alabama Country blues musicians Piedmont blues musicians Paramount Records artists Columbia Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Alabama 20th-century American male singers American male songwriters