Maybe you have heard of Adolphus Bell, and maybe not, you should because he is a treasure. A southern blues man that sings/plays traditional blues and R/B his way.
While strumming his ole Gibson guitar, drumming with his foot, and symbols he is singing his heart out for you. He also plays the harmonica. His phrasing is a bit like John Lee Hooker and his harmonica playing is simple, but with excellent timing. He’s an old blues man singing the blues, and a guy you want to get to know, just out of curiosity, if nothing else.
His life is right out of a blues song. He has been down on his luck, slept in his car, stayed with friends, had a few wives, lost a few wives and a few girlfriends along the way, but he remains married to the blues. He professes to be the “World’s Greatest One Man Band”, and has it written all over his vehicle so we know for sure. For the last 40 years he has been squeezing out a living of sorts by doing what he loves. He had to hock his 1960 Gibson more than a few times just for the sake of his survival, but always recovered it and on he goes. The story of his life and times are endless.
Adolphus is his own man. Back in the mid-sixties he had a band, but found he was the only guy that he could count on so he gave it up and that was the beginning of the one man band.
He traveled up and down the east coast for a while stopping on street corners, parks, wherever he could sing for you to collect a little cash, and once ended up in jail for not having a permit to perform his routine. He later moved around from the south to California, and to Vegas, where he ended up working in the hotels for a while as a door man and greeter, but grew tired of that and headed back to the south where he originated from and played at local gigs wherever he could.
He came to the attention of Tim and Denise Duffy who founded the Music Maker Relief Fund, a nonprofit label that helps true pioneers and forgotten heroes of southern music gain recognition and bring their talent into the spotlight. With their help Adolphus Bell made his one and only album to date in 2006. ONE MAN BAND it's a classic R/B, blues sound with songs like” Alabama Women” shows off his savvy guitar playing and “Have You Ever Plowed A Mule” where he plays all his instruments, and “Child Support Blues”, you just know what he has gone through listening to the titles of the songs, and his rendition of “Ain’t No Sunshine”, pounding his drum like a death march.
In 2009 he was in France, and was well received at the LaVillette Jazz Festival in Paris with thousands in attendance. They loved him and he has since toured in Europe and back to Paris again. If he is ever in your area, be sure to stop and listen, and remember him, because he is the WORLDS GREATEST ONE MAN BAND, and could be the last.
I hope you will check him out, buy his music to help support him and give him the recognition that he so deserves and acknowledge the craft that he has spent his entire life perfecting, he is a national treasure. You can find some of his music on YouTube, or on iTunes.
Tunedin4U.blogspot.com
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