NATHAN BELL : RED, WHITE AND AMERICAN BLUES (IT COULDN'T HAPPEN HERE)

NATHAN BELL : RED, WHITE AND AMERICAN BLUES (IT COULDN'T HAPPEN HERE)

Angola Prison
American Gun (with Patty Griffin)
American Blues (For GSH)
Retread Cadillac (Lightnin’) (with Regina McCrary)
A Lucky Man (For My Father, The Original Dead Man) (with Patty Griffin)
Wrong Man For The Job
When You’re Dead (Ghost Reflects On His Dire Circumstances)
Mossberg Blues (with Regina McCrary)
Running On The Razor (Family) (with Aubrie Sellers)
Zensuit’s Samadhi Blues
Monday, Monday (The Bony Fingers Reprise)
To Each Of Us (A Shadow) (with Patty Griffin)
Folding Money (You Better Move Along)

Label : Need To Know Music

Length : 46:50

Release Date : October 1, 2021

Review (Written In Music) : “25 years down in the hole, never heard a word from a mumbling soul, the day was night and the night was black, I’ll leave Angola Prison Lying on my back”. Het klinkt onheilspellend op roffelende drums, ritmisch gitaarwerk. Bell schreef de song over de beruchte staatsgevangenis in Louisiana drie jaar na de dood van Herman Wallace ruim vier decennia in een isoleercel zat opgesloten en enkele dagen na zijn vrijlating overleed. Angola Prison is het openingsnummer van Red, White American Blues, de ondertitel ‘It Couldn’t Happen Here’, refereert naar de novelle uit 1935 van Sinclair Lewis. De snijdende harmonica is van Reverend Crow, die de cover schilderde. Bell krijgt hulp van snarenman Frank Swart, drummer Alvino Benett en de toetsenbijdragen zijn van John Deadrick, de opvallendste gasten tijdens de uit 2019 daterende sessies in Capitola, Californië zijn drie vrouwen. De klagende zang in American Gun, dat aan de donkere oorlogsperiode in Vietnam herinnert, is van Patty Griffin afkomstig. We horen dat merkwaardige timbre terug in A Lucky Man, opgedragen aan Bell’s vader Marvin een professor en gelauwerd dichter. Nathan erfde een tomeloze obsessie voor poëzie en literatuur. Zijn muzikale inspiratie vond hij bij Lightnin' Hopkins, Retreat Cadillac, een bezwerend akoestisch duet met gospel zangeres Regina McCrary vertelt het verhaal van de Texaanse bluespoëet, McCrary duikt terug op in de broeierige rocker Mossberg Blues terwijl de jonge countryzangeres Aubrie Sellers meezingt in het rauwe gangsterverhaal Running On The Razor. American Blues is een eerbetoon aan de onvolprezen Gill Scott Heron, als tiener ontdekte Bell het revolutionaire werk van de jazz en soulpoëet met het fantastische The Bottle en toont een gelijkaardig engagement in het met zwoele jazzy licks gelardeerde parlando van de titeltrack. Het door warm gospelorgel opgepookte Zensuit’s Samadhi Blues huist in het steegje van Tom Waits. Naast die sociaal en politiek geïnspireerde onderwerpen is er plaats voor persoonlijk gerelateerde onderwerpen zoals het op strak boogstramien gespannen Wrong Man For The Job. De verstilde mijmeringen die Bell met Griffin deelt in het desolate To Each Of Us verwijzen onmiskenbaar naar depressieve toestanden. Ondanks zijn impressionante oeuvre blijft deze hardwerkende Amerikaan alsnog een van de meest onderschatte singer-songwriters. Hopelijk keert het tij voor Nathan Bell met deze songcyclus over gekwetste zielen in een verscheurde natie, een ongemeen sterke episode in een bevlogen muzikaal vervolgverhaal.

Review (Americana Highways) : Nathan Bell’s Red, White And American Blues (It Couldn’t Happen Here) is a heavy hitter due to be available October 1st on Need To Know Music. The album was produced by Brian Brinkerhoff and Frank Swart and is 13 tracks strong. The album features guest vocal performances by Patty Griffin (on three tracks), Regina McCrary (on two tracks) and Aubrie Sellers. Album opener, “Angola Prison” is a steady low end march, with an intensely gripping groove — “Me and the devil we made a pact, that I’d leave Angola Prison lying on my back.” Bell wrote this one 5 years ago and thankfully we can hear it now. It’s the perfect album opener — play it and you’ll keep listening. “American Gun” is a stripped down hushed song, bouyed by Patty Griffin’s recognizable energetic harmonies. “I’m the very first word in the story to come.” The song moves through soldiers, passports, Occam’s razor, and Griffin’s “I’ve got one job and I do it well” harmony hits this one out of the park. “American Blues (for GSH), to me, might be the centerpiece of the album. It’s a tribute to Gil Scott-Heron’s song “The Bottle,” and it creates a memorable hooky song on a series of twisted contemporary injustices and harsh realities. “Retread Cadillac” is a songwriter’s tale of Lightnin’ Hopkins not to be missed. “A Lucky Man” is a moving tribute, dedicated to Bell’s father and again featuring Patty Griffin. “When You’re Dead” is a response to a poem by Gaylord Brewer. “Mossberg Blues” features powerhouse Regina McCrary and a lot of musical swagger. “Running on the Razor” is a dark sinister look at the most base of human existences, and the struggle to accept that that level of darkness exists. But it holds up a mirror to our own inner core too. In the midst of really seeing what humans are capable of, what else do we see in them beside the dark negative? How do we reach the humanity? Aubrie Sellers blends in with a haunting harmony here. “Monday Monday” is a groovy blues number about working your fingers to the bone and the cycle that Monday morning brings. “To Each of Us” (a shadow) is pretty acoustic interludes leading to a lovely harmonious blend with Patty Griffin on “you’re all I ever wanted.” Put this record on the top of the pile for contenders for best albums this year. The reasons this one rises to the top is its perfect combination of factors: quality production (beautiful and distinctly separate sounds, catchy arrangements), excellent musicianship (with an easy fluidity), stellar vocals (including of course the choices of harmony singers) and serious, heavy and relatable songwriting. Red, White, and American Blues has it all. If you need an album that captures the mood of the times, this one is a definite for your collection. Find more details and ordering information here: https://nathanbellmusic.com Musicians on the album are: Nathan Bell on acoustic and baritone guitars, vocals and harmonica; Alvino Bennett on drums and percussion; Frank Swart on bass, guitar, banjo, and mandocaster; John Deaderick on keyboards; Patty Griffin, Regina McCrary, and Aubrie Sellers on vocals; and Reverend Crow on harmonica.

Review (Maximum Volume Music) : Thanks to a Billy Bragg album that was released last year, I found out that I was an “autodidact”. It means, basically, I have to know stuff. Like, they’ll say on TV, at election time say, “it’s the second safest seat in the country” and my phone will be in my hand while I search for the first. As afflictions go pretty cool, and occasionally, it throws up a gem. I was listening to “Red, White And American Blues” in bed on New Years Eve (because I am painfully dull) and the opening song “Angola Prison” came on. I have a need to know whether it’s a real prison – it is, it’s in Louisiana – and on Google they had the opening times and it said: “please note New Years Eve may affect these”. A bit like that bit in “Jailbreak” by Thin Lizzy were Lynott sings “tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in the town.” I don’t know about you, but I’d check the jail. This type of stating the bleeding obvious, isn’t Nathan Bell’s stock in trade, though. Listen to the 13 songs he’s crafted for “Red, White and American Blues (it couldn’t happen here)” and to do so, is to be taken on a journey. A frequently depressing, but always interesting and incredibly compelling one, mind you. On his website there’s a quote about his work that says this: “Nathan Bell is not a protest singer, but rather, an attentive seismograph of social decline” and that’s true. He’s one of the singer/songwriters that isn’t afraid to give his world view in these songs, in these characters, and in these stories. There’s more to it, though. This was written in 2019 and then a pandemic got in the way. These words, they ring true – and possibly even truer – than back then. We’ve got war criminals being knighted after all, hundreds of thousands of people dead and the billionaires have piled on staggering wealth. And there’s a sense of that anger, that hopelessness, throughout. This is not, however, some polemic. These are songs of incredible texture and skill. Not least the dark blues of the aforementioned “….Prison” one of the albums most immediate tracks. Don’t make the mistake, though, of thinking this is Bell. It’s not. Nathan Bell, across this album, proves to be some kind of shapeshifter, a chameleon, and this is a maze of things. It’s barren and sparse, as on “American Gun”, it moves into jazz on “American Blues (for GSH)” and yes that stands for Gil Scot Heron – this revolution isn’t to be televised, however. It’s got to happen underground. It’s powerful stuff too. “the church rapes the children its paid to educate” – and the theme of organised religion is one that is returned to before the end. “Retread Cadillac (Lighnin’) tells the story of Lightnin’ Hopkins and there is a stunning harmony vocal from Regina McCrary in this that takes it to the stratosphere. Patty Griffin (who was on “…Gun” as well) puts in a first rate performance on “A Lucky Man (for my father, the original Dead Man)” written before his father died and with such adept poetry. “Wrong Man For The Job” moves into pulsing, rocking blues, and its not hard to see it through a Trumpian lens, I suppose, but it could be anyone. It’s just angry at anyone that deserves it. “When You’re Dead (Ghost reflects on his dire circumstances)” is as hypnotic as it gets, but the author – and its easy to see these as short stories – puts it, “we were all ghosts in 2020.” Maybe we still are? As it suggests: “nothing else can kill you, when you’re dead”. “Mossberg Blues” – another featuring McCrary – deals with the futility of trying to change the future, and if one thing I’ve neglected on this review so far was to talk about Bell’s playing, then his guitar here is stunning. “Running On A Razor (Family)” is perhaps the best, because its genuinely seething with rage at the so called “poverty porn” that is a staple of TV and film, and many’s the time I’ve sat screaming at the TV “why aren’t you reporting on why people live like this?!” “Zensuit’s Samadhi Blues” is quieter, but no less full of regret and pathos. Grief is writ through this, and it’s raw. That chameleon thing? Well listen to the soul filled blues of “Monday, Monday (the bony fingers reprise)” and wonder where it had been the rest of the record. A tribute to Jimmy Reed and others, its fantastic, and the counterbalance, perhaps is “To Each Of Us (A Shadow)” the final one to see Patti Griffin sing with him and its beautiful bleakness, is but another high point in an album full of incredible high points. The final one “Folding Money (You Better Move Along)” is another excoriation of organised religion. “Jesus don’t like your folding money, or the way you use his name” rages Bell, with real feeling – and maybe, as we started with a mention of Billy Bragg, we should end with one too, maybe this is – to quote a song he plays at most gigs – written by someone who knows the real power is in a union? And not in a system that works against them. And maybe that’s the best way to look at this record. They hate us. They make money off our misery. We have each other. Be part of the change. It can happen here.