Album Notes

“As observant and nervy as ever... illuminates what good songwriters help us to see and feel.”
- Michael McCall, Nashville Scene, December 2007

“...the best kept secret on the American indy rock scene.”
- Craig Bickhardt, Ninety Mile Wind, blog for songwriters


Songwriter-singer/guitarist Nathan Bell toured the US and Canada throughout the '80s, playing at clubs, concert halls, and (as a member of the duo, Bell and Shore) most of the premier North American acoustic music festivals, including the Walnut Valley Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and the Mariposa Folk Festival. His work on acoustic, National steel-bodied, and electric guitars was often overshadowed by his songwriting, which is an amalgamation of ideas inspired by writers ranging from Jack London, William Faulkner, and the poet Marvin Bell to Townes Van Zandt and southern short-story master Larry Brown.

He stopped touring in 1992 and with the arrival of his first child in 1995 left the business altogether to concentrate on raising a growing family.

During the '80s Bell shared the stage with Emmylou Harris, Eddie and Martha Adcock, Stompin' Tom Connors, Townes Van Zandt, Kathy Mattea, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Ricky Skaggs, and a whole cast of scofflaws and gypsies from the folk and bluegrass archipelago. During the early '90s he was a staff writer for Ten Ten Music in Nashville and was regularly featured at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe, often as part of the "writers in the round" series with many notable songwriters, including Grammy-Award winner Don Henry, Craig Bickhardt, and CMA award nominee Angela Kaset.

In 1991, he recorded an album of songs with producer/guitarist Richard Bennett (Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart) that was never released.


DISCOGRAPHY
Nathan Bell, In Tune, On Time, Not Dead (Zensuit Records)
Bell & Shore, L-Ranko Motel (Paulstarr Enterprise)
Bell & Shore, Little Movies (Flying Fish)

Nathan's songs have been recorded by The Hangdogs, Austin's own Banded Geckos, and award-winning Australian singer Peter Caulton.

Nathan produced and played on albums by Bob Halperin and Jim McCandless.