From Laramie, Wyo., to Austin, Texas, to New Orleans, and now in Nashville, singer and songwriter Luke Bell has touched down in several of the most musically inspiring parts of the country en route to a nascent career that earned him a spot early in the day Saturday at the 2016 Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio.
His sound is raw and energetic, rooted in country tradition with a strong dose of the literate facet of the folk tradition -- with a dash of Western yodeling dropped in just for fun.
“There was a guy in Laramie that started kind of a small folk scene,” Bell said a few minutes after his set on the Palomino stage. From Indio, he’s heading to Los Angeles for a performance Sunday night at the Echo, in Echo Park.
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“I was listening to people like John Prine,” he said, “then I moved to Austin for a couple of years and got into the Texas Tornadoes and that scene. Then I went to New Orleans. I was only there for about six months. I was living in a molding trailer tha smelled of bleach in the Lower 9th Ward. It was tough.”
Since moving to Nashville, Bell has been touring regularly as a solo act, and is gearing up for the June 17 release of his self-titled album.
He said he hasn’t been a part of Nashville’s songwriter community -- ”I’m kind of reclusive,” he said with a sheepish smile -- but “I’m just trying to get my songs better and better.”
One of the album’s songs that’s generating some attention is “Sometimes,” highlighted recently by NPR Music. It’s a bittersweet farewell to a love that didn’t pan out, sharing some of the razor wit on which Texas songwriter Hayes Carll has built his career:
She was my watermelon woman
My cornbread queen
I met the gal when she was just 19, ooh whee buddy, she’s a sight to see
We stayed out all night and fought like dogs
We drank like fish and loved like hogs
What a trifle of a life, for a man to lead, all right
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Brett Young performs on the Mane Stage during the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Luke Bell performs on the Palomino Stage during the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Rainey Qualley performs on the Mane Stage on the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Country music fans dash out from behind gates to get the best concert viewing seats as they arrive on the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Jana Kramer performs on the Mane stage during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29, 2016.
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Kieley Olenick of Corona dances with Nick Bryan of Riverside as Jana Kramer performs on the Mane stage during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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The setting sun illuminates and casts shadows on the umbrella of Ashley Gonzales and William Quintero, both of Long Beach, during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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A country music fan is silhouetted dancing by a vendor’s spotlight while Emmylou Harris performs on the Palomino Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Marty Stuart performs on the Mustang Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Chris Young performs on the Mane Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Country music fans sing along during Eric Church’s headlining performance during the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Country music fans Debbie Clark, of Fullerton, left, Kitty Borchard, of Costa Mesa, Caitlin Roberto, of Norwalk, Jenny Stevens, of Downey, and Nicole Ray, of Anaheim, pose with their phones by an illuminated American flag hanging on their RV at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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A country music fan waves to friends from the top of an RV at sunset in the RV Resort as she attends the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Thursday.
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Jamella Perkins, center, joins fellow country music fans line dancing in the Dance Dome at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort as they attend the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome at Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club.
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome as they attend the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Spotlights silhouette and create shadows as country music fans dance in the Dance Dome as they attend the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Nick Michael, of Anaheim, checks his phone by an illuminated American flag hanging on an RV at dusk in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fan Vito Pace, of Calabasas, sports LED lights on his hat at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Tiffany Rancloes, left, of Yucca Valley, dances with Jen Halcrow, also of Yucca Valley, to country music in the RV Resort of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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Madisyn Recupido, 4, of Beaumont, who is attending her fourth Stagecoach festival, sports pink boots and hat while checking out plastic pink flamingos in the RV Resort at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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Country music fans ride bikes at dusk at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Two men arrive on a loaded tricycle full of beer and other drinks in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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Horse heads and bicycles are illuminated with LED lights, put on by Vito Pace, of Calabasas, at dusk in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio.
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Country music fans, from left, Vito Pace, Linda Vogel, Cassidy Vogel, Michelle Pace, all of Calabasas, sport LED lights on their bikes at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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A couple cruise on three-wheel bikes with flags through the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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A private security mounted patrol keeps an eye on country music fans at dusk in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Phillip Toczynski, and Alyssa Salinas, both of Simi Valley, pull their luggage as they arrive in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Crew members put up lighting at sunset on the Mane Stage on Thursday at the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) As for the yodeling, Bell acknowledged his debt to fellow Wyomingite, Western singer and songwriter Wylie Gustafson, whose voice has been heard around the planet as the singer of the “Yahoo” search engine yodel.
“I bought a book and CD of his to learn how to yodel,” he said.
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A female festival-goer who’d caught his set stopped while he was talking to a reporter to compliment him. “I don’t usually go much for yodeling,” she said, “but you did it great.”
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