Folk singer-songwriter , his friend and collaborator Matt Kinman says the throwback style, a mix of Nashville and Bakersfield, Texas, is dead. He is 32 years old.
Battling severe bipolar disorder, Bell traveled to Arizona to work with Kinman, but disappeared in Tucson on Saturday, August 20. A week later he was found dead. SavingCountryMusic.com said, “He’s not far from where we all feared he might be when we first heard the news.” His cause of death is still pending an autopsy.
Kinman, who has played with Bell for the past six years, said, “We came here to Arizona, to work here, play some music, and he left. He was in the back of the truck. I went in to get something to eat. I came out and he got out of the truck and was gone.
After his disappearance, Kinman speculated, “He might be in Tucson. But he might have jumped a freight train,” which wasn’t unusual for Bell. According to Save Country Music, “semi-homeless and generally vagrant,” Bell honed his chops during his music-making years. Rang the bell and wandered off to bed.
In 2015, Rolling Stone described his sound as “classic honky-tonk with a wink and a yodel.” That unique combination earned him starting spots alongside Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Jr. and Dwight Yoakam.
Bell has released three albums: the self-released debut in 2012, Don’t worry if I do in 2014 and in 2016 named disk.
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