Description

Two years since his last visit, Nathan Bell?s Red, White and American Blues tour finally brings the award-winning songwriter?s mesmerizing live show back to the UK.

Nathan Bell borrows from traditional musical forms and the literary
traditions of writers like Jack London, John Berryman, and Studs Terkel to produce moving pictures of the American experience. A Nathan Bell show is a hell of a show.

It is likely that the guitar will be played interestingly. Harmonicas will be activated with intent. Nobody in a helmet will push the button on an I Phone. At the end of the evening there will be sweat on the stage.

Sometimes people laugh. Sometimes they cry. Sometimes people just stare stone faced in disbelief. A goat once screamed at every note from the harmonica. Birds gather. In the far reaches of The Netherlands, people sang along. Near Frankfurt, Germany, the Blues caused a man to speak in tongues. Fascists are taken to task. The working person reigns supreme. Invisible Gods are banished. The word "Soul" is used exactly once. Rainbow flags and BLM banners wave throughout the lyrics. You can hear machinery and the slow drip of sweat to the factory floor. People loosen their ties, roll up their sleeves and take care of the ones they love. The dead speak. The dead ask impossible questions. There will be honor in hard work and the poetry of living. Pronouns will be optional. Gender unnecessary. Class distinctions are banned. Equity, equality, and parity are assumed. One, maybe two, love songs will be presented. Not one single song will make excuses, ask for pity, or condemn an honest and forthright human. No song will mock or punch down.

Recorded in 2019, delayed two years by the pandemic, yet still relevant in every way, new album Red, White and American Blues comes out this month. The album takes the listener on a journey, from the Dead Thumb Blues of South Texas, through Swamp Music, American Roots Rock, and West Coast Spoken Jazz Poetry to the Folk stages of London.

?It?s all powerful stuff and Bell is spellbinding on stage, a true sage for these troubled times?
PAUL KERR AMERICANA UK / BLABBER'N'SMOKE

Ags Connolly is a traditional country artist from Oxfordshire, considered to be one of the best country singer-songwriters ever to emerge from the UK. His third album, Wrong Again, was released in November 2019 and was described by Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 as ?modern day traditionalism of the very, very best kind?.

Description

Harvey Road,

Leytonstone,

London,

Greater London,

England,

E11 3DB.