Lurrie Bell Can't Shake This Feeling

Lurrie Bell
Can't Shake This Feeling
Delmark

The Mercurial Son, Lurrie Bell has a new recording on Delmark "Cant Shake This Feeling" finding this singular guitarist and singer backed by a first-rate band of Roosevelt Purifoy on keyboards, Matthew Skoller on harmonica, Melvin Smith on bass and Willie Hayes on drums. Produced by Dick Shurman, Lurrie wrote or co-wrote 4 of the 13 songs, and the other songs here are not ones that have been over-recorded with perhaps "Sinner's Prayer" being the best known.

Lurrie's unpredictability makes him such a fascinating guitarist to listen to and this is evident starting with the opening "Blues Is Trying to Keep up with Me," which he penned as well as his solo on Eddie Boyd's shuffle "Drifting," with Skoller and Purifoy also soloing. Lurrie's natural, slightly gritty vocals add to the appeal. There is some nice string popping on a lesser know T-Bone Walker number "I Get So Weary," while he unplugs for "One-Eyed Woman" backed only by Skoller. Another strong original, the slow, moody "This Worrisome Feeling in My Heart," is followed by a cover of one of Willie Dixon's lesser songs, "Sit Down Baby." Lurrie can not do much on this cover of Otis Rush's Cobra recording of this song.

A brisk Little Milton cover "Hold Me Tight," is followed by a nice interpretation of "Sinner's Prayer," that sounds adapted from Ray Charles. There is a nice walking groove of Lurrie's "I Can't Shake This Feeling," a gem that sounds like it came from Willie Dixon's pen with Skoller's backing harp sounding strong along with a typically distinctive Bell solo. Lurrie sings and plays his heart out on Buster Benton's "Born With The Blues," followed by Carey Bell's shuffle "Do You Hear." Bell also does a rendition of Willie Dixon's "Hidden Charms." If Lurrie is among the few guitarists who can conjure up Hubert Sumlin, he lacks Howlin' Wolf's vocal authority, which exposes this song as a lesser Willie Dixon lyric.

"Can't Shake This Feeling" closes with the reflective original (co-penned with Shurman) "Faith and Music" with just Lurrie on electric guitar. The music here is generally exceptional although there are a couple of lesser performances. Still, Lurrie Bell is one of most singular talents today in the blues.

I received my review copy from Delmark. I have revised for this blog the review that originally appeared in the November-December 2016 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 369) (downloadable at jazz-blues.com). Here is Lurrie in performance.

Lurrie Bell Has The Blues In His Soul

Lurrie Bell’s latest album Blues In My Soul marks his return to Delmark with whom he made some of his finest recordings. His last two recordings on Aria displayed a bit of his musical range while the present set is a set devoted to traditional Chicago blues. On this he is joined by Roosevelt Purifoy on keyboards; Melvin Smith on bass; Willie Hayes on drums and Matt Skoller on harmonica with a couple selections featuring horns. The 14 songs include three originals and eleven interpretations of classic blues recordings associated with T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Rogers, Junior Wells, Otis Rush and others, produced by Dick Shurman for some straight Chicago blues.

Bell is an appealing, if not compelling singer with his unforced, heartfelt grainy vocals, with his imaginative, quirky guitar playing adding unexpected twists and delights to his music. My use of the word interpretation as opposed to cover is deliberate, because Bell’s renditions of T-Bone Walker’s Hey Hey Baby, or Jimmy Rogers’ Going Away Baby are fresh re-workings of the source recordings. Bell’s originals include the title song where he sings about liking what he is doing cause he feels the blues deep in soul with a backing that might suggest As the Years Go Passing By, or Somebody Loan Me a Dime. Purifoy’s organ is wonderful here while he is equally fine with the rollicking piano on Lurrie’s rendition of Big Bill Broonzy’s I Feel So Good, with nice harp from Skoller to go with Bell’s snap crackle and pop guitar here. 

‘Bout the Break of Day, Junior Wells rendition of Early in the Morning, is done in a gut-bucket fashion with Bell’s restrained fire adding to this marvelous version. One of Bell’s other originals, 24 Hour Blues, is a relaxed shuffle done as a tribute to his friend Magic Slim, who had passed earlier that day. There is a briskly tempoed shuffle rendition of I Just Keep Loving Her, one of Little Walter’s early recordings with crisp, rocking breaks from Skoller and Purifoy in addition to Bell. 

Bell closes this disc out with a fine rendition of Otis Spann’s The Blues Never Die, again showcasing not simply Bell (with a superb solo), but the band as well. The result is another one of the very solid blues performances on Blues In My Soul.

I received my review copy from Delmark. Here is a youtube clip with the audio of the title track. Now go purchase or download this CD. :)