Wrecks Bell
Dog's Life
Romeo Records


by William Michael Smith

Ah, the stories he could tell.

Rex "Wrecks" Bell spent his misspent youth playing bass for Houston blues legend Sam "Lighnin'" Hopkins. But playing with one legend wasn't enough for Mr. Bell. Later in his life, Hopkins became more of a solo act and Bell packed his bass and moved in with another Texas legend, singer-songwriter Townes van Zandt. Bell's Dog's Life shows that he paid attention to both of these master entertainers, borrowing their humor, their songwriting insight, and their down-to-earth way of putting ideas across in music.

Produced by Ray Wylie Hubbard and featuring seasoned Austin session players like Paul Pearcy on drums, Glen Fukunaga on bass, Jeff Plankenhorn on dobro, and Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle, Dog's Life is easy on the ears and good for the soul. Bell's weathered but mischievous voice delivers some of his lyrics in the droll, thoughtful style instantly associated with van Zandt ("Sinkin'" and "Oval Room") and some in a smooth, jazzy Texas version of Mose Allison style ("Somebody to Impress"). It is soon apparent that Bell has taken his songwriting inspiration equally from Hopkins, van Zandt, and Allison. For a smart van Zandt-style, the-wine-made-it-clear-to-me hyperbolic observation, Bell's wistful "Sinkin'" will fit the bill perfectly.

Gamblin' to me is like breathin'
There ain't nothin' I've got I can't lose
Last time I fell for a dancing girl
She left me in one of her dancing shoes
I've been sinkin', ain't been singin'
About my own

Bell has also mastered that wry, self-deprecating style of Mississippi jazz-blues giant Mose Allison. Allison has crafted a life of songs that point out the deficiencies in others that always rebound to point out his own quite human flaws.

I fell out of love a thousand times and now I'm in
Well I'm trying without arms to hold you back
You rake my helpless mind, that's where the song begins
And so I've got to conjure up a little respect
So I built the fastest car, I won the human race
I invented a new nickel worth a dime
I've got peace in the Middle East in my attaché
Is that enough, babe, to make you mine?

Hopkins gets plenty of references and riffs. When Lightnin' was in his cups and the feeling was flowing, his tales lacked, shall we say, a certain logical linearity? Well, Bell knows how to play that game too. His explanation of the eternal question, "What is the blues?" is pure Hopkins. On "Dollar Blues," Bell perfectly mimics Hopkins' signature guitar style as he humorously attempts some cosmic answers and outside-the-box positive thinking. (Right­ Rex Bell with Lightnin' Hopkins statue)

The blues is when you've got a wooden leg and a real foot
The blues is when you call a good day having a near-life experience
The blues is when your income is gross
The blues is here today and here tomorrow

They say money is evil, I guess I ain't never got ahold of no bad batch
They say money is evil, I guess I ain't never got ahold of no bad batch
Some say it'll kill you, well I guess I'll use all 9 of my lives
And die a big ole giant fat cat

Bell covers two powerful van Zandt's compositions. Bell recently married and I suspect his choice of "Be Here to Love Me" is somehow tied into that life-altering change. And who could fault him for covering van Zandt's beautiful, wistful, ache-filled tribute to his bass player and friend, "Rex's Blues"? Augie Meyer's lonely accordion provides a perfect accent.

Well let's ride the blue wind high and free
She'll lead you down for misery
Leave you low come time to go
Alone and low as low can be

If I had a nickel I'd find a game
If I won a dollar I'd make it rain
If it rained an ocean I'd drink it dry
Lay me down dissatisfied

It's legs to walk and thoughts to fly
Eyes to laugh and lips to cry
A restless tongue to classify
All born to grow and grown to die
* Townes van Zandt, "Rex's Blues"

Bell also renders a surprisingly strong interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song." Given his life in the world of troubadours, the song turns out to be a natural for Bell and makes for one of the most memorable tracks on the album.

On the important subjects of females, marriage and love, Bell proves that he's done some very deep thinking on all three with two excellent wry compositions, "One Lousy Song" and "Dog's Life." With Meyer again nursing the squeeze box San Antonio style over an oom-pah-pah waltz beat, Bell philosophizes on the mysteries of a man's attraction to the opposite sex in spite of all his logic and ingrained self-defense mechanisms. (Don't ask me what it all means, I've got my own problems.)

The second I saw her the minute was magic
The hour was hardly enough
It doesn't seem real how she killed me so quietly
She didn't even take all my stuff
So call out the white coats for the sane-less and the psychos
There's a wild man loose inside me
But don't you think maybe you're simply just crazy
About the way that things used to be?

Bell, who owns and operates Galveston's Old Quarter Café, which has become a 'must' stop for folk singers and solo Texicana artists and holds an annual Townes van Zandt wake, has saved the final track for a song "in memory of our beloved Townes van Zandt," written and performed here by Diane Craig. Ms. Craig has a fine, full, countrified voice and she gives a soulful tribute to van Zandt without sinking into the maudlin zone.

He's got his very own wall at the Old Quarter
They sing a lot of his songs in here
From "Rex's Blues" to "Flying Shoes"
The "White Freightliner Blues"
"If I Needed You"

We live in a time when Texas singer-songwriter has come to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. If you aren't sure what a Texas singer-songwriter is, apart from the Townes van Zandt catalog Rex Bell's Dog's Life would make as good a place as any to start finding out.

* Dog's Life is available at www.galvestontexas.com/oldquarter or you could just get in your car and drive down to the Old Quarter at 413 20th St. and get one directly from Rex. You just might run into the ghost of Townes van Zandt if the wine is flowing just right.

Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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