In 1966, Frank Zappa (on The Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out) reassured “plastic folks [that]everything’s clean and it can’t happen here.” Needless to say, Zappa’s words were heavily ironic and, more than half a century on, the alarm bells haven't stopped ringing.
It’s no coincidence that ‘It Can't Happen Here’ is also the title of a 1935 political novel by Sinclair Lewis describing Americans being led to Fascism by a dictator. The rise to power of Trump created a realisation that Sinclair’s cautionary dystopian tale couldn't be casually dismissed as a just a work of fiction.
The subtitle of Nathan Bell’s album is intended to convey a similar warning message to his listeners. Music journalist Mark Kemp summarises the album well as “a set of songs about a broken country and its broken people.”
Bell has spoken of feeling at odds with the dominance of visuals in US culture and of being more in tune with the aural/oral tradition of Europe. This is evident from the documentary film of his tour through the UK called ‘I Don’t Do This For Love, I Do This For Love’ where he presents his songs under the heading : “The Working Man, Protest & Love”.
Bell is a South Tennessee-based musician who is proud of his working class background.His love of language is in his DNA as the son of Iowa’s first poet laureate.
He is a little more coy about having to admit to working in the telecommunications field where he freely admits to adopting the role of a “white collar corporate American”.
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Now in his 60s, Bell is no Spring chicken but he brings a lifetime of experience to his writing. He sings with passion and authenticity covering a range of genres including Blues, Roots Rock and Americana.
The 13 original songs of this album, featuring guest appearances by Patty Griffin, Regina McCrary and Aubrie Sellers, pull no punches about the state of the nation pre and post Trump.
Take, for example, American Blues, in which he sings how “men learn an honest trade from the war machine.” In Wrong Man For The Job he adopts the role of a selfish money grabber: “If I had a million dollars, I’d keep it to myself, never share a dime with anybody else.”
Recorded in 2019 in Capitola, California at Skunkworks Studios, and delayed two years by the Pandemic, the other eleven tracks cover subjects surrounding gun laws, racial tensions, class divisions, rampant greed and an overall moral decline sweeping the country.
Bell leaves the listener in no doubt that this no bleak vision of the future since all this is happening in America right here, right now.
Nathan Bell’s website
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