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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Glenna Bell's new album, Perfectly Legal: Songs of Sex, Love and Murder, is scheduled for release on September 20, 2010 and will be available for digital download and for sale at music stores across the nation through Burnside Distribution Corporation based in Portland, Oregon. Links to Amazon and iTunes will be posted soon. Please check back with us to buy CD's. In the meantime, sign up now here on the homepage (top, left) to receive the Glenna Bell Music Newsletter with monthly updates and show announcements.
ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM: Recorded in four acts at studios on the East Coast, Austin and Houston, Texas, Perfectly Legal: Songs of Sex, Love and Murder unfolds as a musical and theatrical journey through a series of stripped-down songs that document the seldom-told stories of a real woman living a real life at the turn of the twenty-first century. The themes are both contemporary and timeless, ranging from Bell's comical, foot-stomping, hand-clapping, beat-driven romp, "The Cougar Anthem," to her banjo-infused rollick down bluegrass lane, “Big Kev,” to her tragic dirge, "The Southern Gothic Wedding Waltz." The covers include a first-person, barrel-house version of the American folk classic, Frankie and Johnny, that takes Bell back to her roots in the deep east Texas woods of the Big Thicket, along with her stark vocal rendition of Sam Cooke’s 1963 hit, Lost and Lookin’, on which she steps back in time to the a cappella church singing that she remembers from her childhood in the Golden Triangle, the tiny east Texas enclave that produced two of the most influential vocalists of the twentieth century: Janis Joplin and George Jones. Bell’s stone-cold country duet take on the Clint Eastwood movie theme song, “Honky Tonk Man,” also offers something for those who love traditional country music, a territory with which Bell is intimately familiar, having grown up in the east Texas lumber towns of Pineland and Lumberton, where she rode in rodeos and lived the real country life before heading to Los Angeles to become a theater critic and eventually a playwright who studied with Edward Albee at the University of Houston’s exclusive Creative Writing Program. On all of the tracks, the production is spare, emphasizing Bell's distinctive vocals and the songs’ well-written lyrics. Perfectly Legal will appeal to those who enjoy minimalist theater (Strindberg, Brecht, Beckett), as well as anyone who has fallen in love with Songs of the South (the Alan Lomax collection of American folk songs recorded in the field in the 1950s), plus those who appreciate the visual arts, literature, storytelling, and history.
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Listen to songs for FREE, and buy Glenna Bell's music at the links, below:
Perfectly Legal: Songs of Sex, Love and Murder (2010): The album is scheduled for release on September 20, 2010 through Burnside Distribution Corporation. A limited number of pre-release copies are available exclusively at Sig's Lagoon Record Store in Houston or you can email Glenna Bell herself at glenna@glennabell.com, and she will mail you a signed copy for $15 plus $2 for postage in the U.S.A.
The Road Less Traveled (2008) was recorded at historic Sugar Hill Studios in Houston, Texas by engineer Steve Christensen, who won a Grammy Award in 2009 for his work on Steve Earle's tribute to Townes Van Zandt entitled "Townes." The Road Less Traveled was produced by Texas music sensation, John Evans (the Smith Group), and features an original Glenna Bell duet with Johnny Bush, who wrote "Whisky River" (a song best remembered as recorded by his long-time friend, Willie Nelson), as well as backup vocals by John Pickering of the vocal group, The Picks, who recorded the three-part harmonies on a number of famous Buddy Holly songs.
BUY The Road Less Traveled on iTunes!
BUY The Road Less Traveled on Amazon!
Face This World (2005) was recorded at historic Sugar Hill Studios in Houston, Texas by engineer, Steve Christensen, who won a Grammy Award in 2009 for his work on Steve Earle's tribute to Townes Van Zandt, entitled "Townes." Face This World features two duets with its producer, Texas music sensation, John Evans (the Smith Group), as well as backing guitar by Chris Masterson, whose credits include Son Volt, Bobby Bare, Jr., Hank Williams, III, and Jack Ingram.
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More News:
August 2010: "La Casa Que Yo Amo" (The Road Less Traveled, 2008) is featured in the independent film, Playing House, a UV Lite Production shot in Los Angeles. The movie is a thriller, directed and co-written by Tom Vaughan. The Houston screening is at the historic River Oaks Landmark Theater on August 30.
June 2010: Glenna Bell has been nominated for a Houston Press Music Award!
May 2010: Glenna Bell Live at the American Consumer Consortium (Photo copyright Paul McRay)
March 2010: Glenna Bell is included in a new book/music compilation! The legacy of Sugar Hill Recording Studios is now documented in House of Hits: The Story of Houston's Gold Star/Sugar Hill Recording Studios (University of Texas Press 2010), which chronicles the growth and changes in the recording industry spanning Sugar Hill's seven decades of making Texas music history. Sugar Hill's roster boasts luminary artists, including Lightnin' Hopkins, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Parker, Clifton Chenier, Sir Douglas Quintet, 13th Floor Elevators, Freddy Fender, Doug Sahm, Kinky Friedman, Ray Benson, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Beyoncé and Destiny's Child. Check out the article in the Houston Chronicle, Sunday edition: Houston Chronicle
February 2010: Glenna Bell is featured in the Buffet Productions' DVD called "All You Can Eat," which was sponsored by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. The debut was at Domy book/art store in Houston's Montrose arts district. The DVD is available for purchase at Domy and other stores and galleries across the nation.
September 6, 2009: Glenna Bell was in a Houston Press Music Awards "Rockumentary" on Channel 39 in Houston and surrounding markets. This documentary on the Houston music scene showcases everybody from Scarface to Glenna Bell!
Excellent Radio Interview/On-Air Performance on KPFT radio's Laurapalooza show, hosted by Laura Slavin: KPFT Radio FM 90.1 Houston
July 2009: The Houston Press readers nominated Glenna Bell for "Best Folk" again this year!
Summer 2009: KNON listeners in Dallas named "The Texas Aggies Win Again" one of the Top 20 songs played on the Texas Renegade Radio show, a p.m. drive-time program hosted by Roots Radio Personality, Trevor Fought.
January 2009: The Houston Chronicle picked The Road Less Traveled -- #1 album of 2008 for the Houston Metropolitan area! Listen to the songs here on the Glenna Bell "MUSIC" page and read the feature story in the Chronicle at Houston Chronicle
Videos! Visit YouTube for videos of Glenna Bell backed by the John Evans Band and cuts from the t.v. filming of Houston Midtown Live! at Sig's Lagoon record store in Houston, right next door to the fabulous Continental Club:
YouTube Video with the John Evans Band
YouTube Video at Sig's Lagoon, Houston Texas
May 2008: Glenna Bell is a top finalist in the May 2008 BW Stevenson Memorial Songwriting Competition at Poor David's Pub in Dallas.
The Road Less Traveled (2008) is receiving critical praise! Check out the reviews on the Glenna Bell PRESS Page! Here are some excerpts:
Joey Guerra, the Houston Chronicle: "Glenna Bell's magic is her ability to wring the purest emotion from a lyric with the least possible effort. The Houston-based performer doesn't overdo her intimate tunes with flowery notes or dramatic flourishes. It's a rare thing and gives The Road Less Traveled, Bell's gorgeous new record, a poignant shimmer. Every moment has a spare, sparkling beauty."
John Shelton Ivany's "Top 21: A Weekly Guide to the Music Industry's Buzz and Latest Releases": "Country is at its best when it's simple, melancholy; something that stares you right in the eye without beating you down with force. It's not just that Ms. Bell's voice has that quality grafted to it; she knows how to dress it down without turning it all into one big gimmick. Just the right amount of echo, on her guitar as well as her voice, with lyrics that never overreach in their scope. The thematic territory is familiar, with heartbreak at the center of it all, but it is with honesty. Aside from a few slightly more lavish moments, this is sparse music with a void as its backbone, a void which pulls us in close to Ms. Bell and imbues her words with an equal gravity. This is a quality that cannot be faked or honed, it is intimate and honest without being simplistic or dumb; this is a sort of music that I'd feared dead."
Ron Wynn, Spin Factor--Nashville's Daily News: "Texas singer/songwriter Glenna Bell sings with a quiet, stirring authority and edge, delivering this CD's 11 songs with such might and power that it's impossible not to be impressed by their simplicity and urgency. Bell covers many subjects such as faith and inspiration ("The Family Bible" by Willie Nelson"); heartache ("I Can't Get My Mind Off You"); sports fandom ("The Texas Aggies Win Again"); and the oddities and inherent problems in any marriage ("How I Found Out I'm Insane). She's not only a poignant and effective lead vocalist, but an outstanding duet partner (superb duets with Johnny Bush on "The East Side" and [with John Evans] on "Jackson"). The lack of studio polish reaffirms the grit in Bell's delivery and the quality of her interpretations and lyrical settings. The Road Less Traveled is brilliantly performed, and a triumph for a standout performer."
Mike Jurkovic, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange--FAME: "The road less traveled, indeed. I say that simply because any number of singer/songwriters sound like some guitar wielding predecessor. Glenna Bell goes beyond a list of influences. She doesn't sound like the usual suspects—Lucinda, Gillian, Iris, Mary Gauthier, etc. She sounds older than that. Way older. Like Texas is old. The Road Less Traveled plays like an old field recording. You're listening to songs like the gritty prison ballad "Outside The Bars" and the mournful, yet redemptive Johnny Bush duet "The East Side" expecting to hear the pops and skips of old vinyl. With her arrangements raw, production back-porch sparse, and a haunting, halting vocal style, Bell fixes your attention on her songs and not the tired who-does-she-sound-like guessing game that gets in the way of a good listen far too often . . . People are listening. You should too."
Chris Spector, Midwest Records: "Has anybody been recognized by the Texas legislature for their music since Gary P. Nunn? Bell now joins that august rank with her tunes. A real from the heart folk rocker, Bell may or may not reach the top of the charts with hit singles, but if we were still living in an album world, this would be one of the sets all the hip kids would be toting in their back packs. Coming at you with a real load of Texas in her soul, Bell delivers the kind of set that cold cocks you when you don’t expect it and just makes you want to turn everyone on to her. Killer stuff that you don’t have to be a tied in the wool folkie to love."
Francois Braeken, "Rootsville-Belgium," calls Glenna Bell's 2005 release, Face This World, “a masterpiece,” placing her in league with “Gillian Welch, Iris Dement, and Mary Gauthier, Sam Baker, Jimmy LaFave, Colin Brooks.” He says The Road Less Traveled is no less “a pearl.”
Glenna Bell's Music Honored at the Capitol in Austin: On May 15, 2007, State Representative Jessica Farrar and the Texas House of Representatives honored the music of Texas-born singer-songwriter Glenna Bell with the following House Resolution, which was read during a ceremony in Austin at the State Capitol on the Floor of the House. House Speaker Tom Craddick was in attendance, and personally congratulated Miss Bell for her musical contributions to the Lone Star State:
H.R. No. 1304 R E S O L U T ION
WHEREAS, A talented singer and songwriter, Beaumont native Glenna Bell is drawing attention for her stark yet beautiful songs that conjure up the heartfelt essence of traditional country music while expressing a fresh, contemporary perspective; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bell has recorded three albums to date, Nobody's Girl, which appeared in 1998, Face This World, from 2005, and The Road Less Traveled, which is scheduled to appear in 2008; each features her haunting songs that present tales of heartache, love, and loss in a stripped down and powerful style; and
WHEREAS, Glenna Bell's music is colored by the sounds that she grew up with in East Texas: a cappella hymns sung in her family's church and old-school country music that she discovered in her relatives' record collections; with the help of veteran Texas musicians such as John Evans, who has produced Ms. Bell's last two albums, and Johnny Bush, who sings on The Road Less Traveled, Glenna Bell has distilled her influences into moving songs that are receiving airplay on country and Americana radio stations across the country; and
WHEREAS, Carrying forward the classic, unembellished style that has graced so much great music from Texas, Glenna Bell has emerged as a musician and storyteller of great promise and stands as an exciting addition to the musical tradition of the Lone Star State;
Now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas Legislature hereby honor Glenna Bell for her musical accomplishments and extend to her best wishes for continued success; and, be it further RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for Ms. Bell as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives.
I certify that H.R. No. 1304 was adopted by the House on April 13, 2007, by a non-record vote. -- Chief Clerk of the House *****************************************************************