Bell returns with posthumous album

I’m a rattlesnake man with my rattlesnake hands / Talk to me, baby, and you’ll understand, are the words that open the new Luke Bell album, “The King is Back,” out Friday, and Bell yips over a joyful chorus of six-strings as he delivers them, a master showman coming home.

But it’s his mother, Carol Bell, behind the album. In the aftermath of Luke’s death, Carol embarked upon an odyssey of her own to see that her son’s work found its way into the world.

Luke’s great gift as a singer-songwriter lay in his sleight of hand. The Cody native, who died aged 32 after a prolonged struggle with mental illness, possessed a literary wit. He often winked at his darker self in his lyrics, be it boot stompers like opener, “Rattlesnake Man” – I’ll take you down low like you never been before, he promises a lover – or the rueful “Black Crows,” in which he laments, Black crows ‘round my heart, black crows ‘round my brain. 

Both are set for a first-time release on Friday’s album, which comprises 28 songs Luke recorded between 2013 and 2016 and never released publicly. Carol assembled the “The King Is Back” with her daughter, Jane, as well as Luke’s friend and former business manager, Brian Buchanan, and a handful of Luke’s past collaborators. 

“Carol knew about these recordings and wanted to release them,” Buchanan said on Tuesday. “It took a long time. Speaking for myself, it was hard to make it very far into the collection of tracks we had to be able to listen and digest all of it.”

“It feels like a big accomplishment,” said Carol. “I feel proud that I did it and worked hard to understand (Luke’s) world. I think Jane and I worked really hard to create something that felt like it was Luke’s, and I think we succeeded.”

Proceeds from the album will go toward the Luke Bell Memorial Affordable Counseling Program, which provides no-cost mental healthcare to Bighorn Basin residents for up to six months. It will be available for purchase at Legends Bookstore and to stream on all major digital platforms.

‘Hand to Hold’

Carol is not a musician.

Before deciding to make “The King Is Back,” she had never stepped into a recording studio or undertaken a creative project of the magnitude that putting together an album has proven to be.

“It was very intimidating,” Carol said. “When we started, I didn’t know the difference between mixing and mastering. I didn’t know what liner notes were. It’s been a steep learning curve, and given me a lot of respect for Luke and getting his first album out.”

Buchanan, who is credited alongside her as an executive producer on the album, acted as a friend and cheerleader throughout the process. It was Buchanan who encouraged Carol to pen the album’s liner notes, the text printed inside an album’s booklet that sheds light on the technical personnel behind the music, but also the inner workings of the artist’s mind.

The end result is a piece of art in conversation: songs left by a son and given to the world by a mother. It’s been a deeply emotional experience for both Carol and Buchanan.

“It feels like a gift from him to me and finishing this album is my gift to him,” said Carol. “I have a sense that this project has brought him back to life and I’m going to have to let him go again.”

In the process of working on the album, Carol “got to experience what it’s like to be a creative.”

“I do feel some sense of ownership and what it was like to be him,” she said. “Luke made me laugh a lot, he loved to share a funny story about himself. This album has quirky lyrics and storytelling, and because it’s new, it feels like he’s here sharing.”

The album was created using demo tapes Luke made at three separate recording studios. Luke’s friends, former producers and manager provided the recordings, some of which hadn’t yet been mixed or mastered. Those producers joined Carol and Buchanan on the project, refining and ultimately mastering the final mixes in the studio with their approval.

“There are some he might have wanted to re-record,” Carol said. “The lyrics may not have come through as he would have wanted, but I think he’d be proud of it.”

“The end product highlights Luke as a writer-artist,” said Buchanan, who also acknowledged that he, “wanted Carol to create a project she could be proud of so that she could feel closure.”

“Luke wrote his albums, 100%,” Buchanan continued. “That’s not normal. It’s not common. The beauty of the album is that you’re hearing Luke and his experiences. Even if it’s not his direct experience, it’s his artistry at work. And so every song is 100% written by Luke (and) the liner notes are 100% written by his mother.”

Asked to choose a favorite track off the album, Carol called it “impossible,” before ultimately picking “River” and the title track, which was also released as the album’s lead single in August.

“If I had to pick one song that’s Luke, it’s the title track,” she said of her son. “He was a guy who expected everybody to be happy when he was happy. When he was joyful, he wanted to share it with the world. I think that’s what came through with all the musicians and friends who helped with the project: we miss Luke’s joy.”

‘Guitar Man’

Luke Bell’s story is a familiar one to locals. Raised in Cody, Luke was a student at the University of Wyoming when he announced to his family that he was dropping out, moving to Austin and becoming a country musician. There, he honed his skills as both a writer and musician. By the mid-2010s, Luke was opening for Willie Nelson and had earned respect from his industry peers, but behind-the-scenes, his mental health was precarious.

“It’s hard to say where it happened,” Buchanan said of Luke’s struggles. “When his father died (in 2015) may have been the true breaking point, but there were signs before that.”

Ultimately, Luke was diagnosed with Bipolar II with psychotic episodes, and a group of family and friends attempted, over several years, to help him find treatment. Eventually, Buchanan began to realize public attention was a trigger for Luke’s mental health. The more the world wanted him, the more likely he was to withdraw.

“He wanted to re-release “Don’t Mind If I Do” as he intended it to be,” Buchanan remembered. “I didn’t understand that request until we started working on this project, but that album was made before he was sick. The chronology has an impact on the work.” 

Buchanan had met Luke just once before his first major label album and then again at that album’s peak.

“Even though there were darker times and the situation was bleak, Luke was a dear friend of mine and my wife,” he said. “We loved him and cared for him. We got to know Luke at the time when the rest of the world wondered where he went.”

Like Carol, Buchanan found comfort in creating the album. 

“Coming to work on this project and doing a tribute show (in September), talking to all of these people who knew him, I got to experience something similar to what Carol talks about,” he said. “Those don’t replace my memories and experiences, but they add to it and it’s nice to think of those happier times.”

For Carol, the project has also provided her with a sense of catharsis and she feels ready for the next chapter of her life.

“As the project is coming to a close, it’s been healing,” she said. “I feel close to Luke.”

“It’s been a decade since I really asked what’s next for me,” she continued, acknowledging the length of her journey in full, from the onset of Luke’s mental health crisis to now. “I bet it’s going to take me a while (to figure that out). I hope something exciting occurs to me.”