Album Review: Luke Bell (Self-Titled)

Similar to the Cactus Blossoms and Whitney Rose’s latest albums, you’ll need to check the year of issue when you cue up Luke Bell’s self-titled release (June 17th) as what flows from your speakers is an undeniable country record in every sense of the word. Bell captures the essence of the greats (Williams, Haggard) on multiple levels: melodically, lyrically and in his delivery. The collection, which begins with “Sometimes,” includes nine additional songs that are familiar, authentic and instant classics, like the traveling song, “All Blue,” which from its cadence and buoyant harmonica, tells of a wanderer who is melancholy, yet “Can’t say all the reasons that I feel this way” and the earnest “Where Ya Been.”

Throughout, Bell’s rich vocals are warm and incredibly honest – he conveys a somber, yet romantic tone on  “Loretta”: “I haven’t felt your breast move under my body in I don’t remember how long,” a bravado on “Bullfighter” where, with that sweet squeezebox, he tells the story of the greatest matador that ever dared to pen and a (lyrical) sadness on the lively “Hold Me” where he sees his ex with another, “Hold me closer I think I just might cry/Well, I’m dustin’ off some memories that are waking up inside.”

The album incorporates a liberated ragtime feel on the jaunty (and appropriately titled), “Ragtime Troubles” which continues on “Glory and the Grace,” while the western-flaired “Workin’ Man’s Dream” extols the blue collar man, “I’m a working man you understand my livings in the dirt” and showcases Bell’s yodeling. The wonderful closing track finds “The Great Pretender" getting his due: “When I awoke she was gone but a note was on the phone/And written down was this message to me/I hope that you remember when our fires turn to ember/That if you find me kind and tender it may hurt when you realize that I am the great pretender"........After listening to this record, however, you’ll realize Bell is anything but.

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