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This is the archive of the combined Barking Spider and Andy Broad Portsmouth Blues Site mailing lists.
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VINCE BELL - R.M.A. Tavern Cromwell Rd., Eastney, Tuesday 26th October Once again The R.M.A. Tavern in Cromwell Road, Eastney features another top class Americana/New Country artiste, when Vince Bell appears on Tuesday evening. Having spent the latter half of the '70s working Texas "from edge to edge" and sharing the stage with Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett, Bell's star was on a rapid rise, his song having been covered by Griffith, Lovett and a host of others. In December of 1982, he was in the studio recording his songs with hired guns Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson. While driving home after a session in the early morning of December 21st, a drunk driver traveling in excess of 65 mph broadsided Bell's car. Thrown over 60 feet from his car, Bell suffered embedded glass, multiple lacerations to his liver, broken ribs, a mangled right forearm and, most significantly, a severe closed head injury which caused massive, long-term swelling about his brain. His "death" was inadvertently reported in the local paper. . Awaking from a coma a month later, Bell was initially unable to balance, to stand, speak, taste food, remember his own music or manipulate his arm. Bell immediately set about rebuilding himself with Herculean will and determination. With the aid of producer Bob Neuwirth and friends including Geoff Muldaur, John Cale, Victoria Williams and Lyle Lovett, Vince made his comeback, with the critically-acclaimed album "Phoenix", in 1994, which was followed by "Texas Plates" and the outstanding "Live In Texas". His writing recalls the songs of Robert Johnson in their stark intensity and Hank Williams in the country simplicity, placing him back in the upper echelon of songwriters Bell's singing voice is like a Victorian pump organ with a couple of mouse-holes in its bellows, compressed and reedy, fairly reeking of the intense effort and passion with which it is charged. His voice continues to gain strength and expressiveness, and his talespinning gifts are hypnotic. The R.M.A. gig promises to be an outstanding performance.