Lurrie Bell, Blues in My Soul

The blues in my soul? When it's singer-guitarist Lurrie Bell you don't doubt it for a minute. He started as the new hope of Chicago blues in the '70s, paid some terrible dues and emerged triumphant, so that the title cut and title album at hand today is by right his to call. Blues in My Soul (Delmark 829) shows you that. It's the new one. And it's right there. Fourteen blues burners, blues scorchers, blues messages from one of the real-deal bluesmen today. Some of them are originals, some of them are revived classics, all of them ring with truth.

It's the Chicago style ensemble, guitar, harp, bass, piano or organ, drums and sometimes some horns to add a little heat. The band is hot. Lurrie Bell is hotter. This is no jive fake resurrection of folks who don't live the blues. Lurrie Bell lives that blues. You don't need anybody to tell you he does. You hear it.

Living in Chicago four years a long time ago, I came away UNDERSTANDING why so many good blues players have and are still coming out of Chicagoland. It's because the blues is a way of life, on the streets, in your crib, at the clubs. . . it's in YOUR SOUL only if you live it. And Lurrie Bell is a part of all that. It comes out of every pore when he's up there doing it. And this album gives you that. Try routing for the Cubs for 100 years, or ditching the landlord around the first of the month because nothing is right, try getting through a brutal Chi-town winter, which might start in September and end in June, and you'll start understanding something about life, yours, Chicago's, and cats like Lurrie Bell. It's not about shuffling. It's about getting through and getting something out of it that money can't begin to buy--though hey, money helps you keep doing what you gotta! It's blues for the long haul, not some faux revival.

So check this one!