EDWARD "ED" BELL

Instruments: Guitar
Date of Birth: May, 1905
Place of Birth: Fort Deposit, Alabama
Date of Death: 1965

A guitarist who also recorded as ‘Barefoot Bill' and ‘Sluefoot Joe' between 1927 and 1930. Bell stands as the most influential Alabama artist in pre-war blues recordings. With well over three-quarters of his material issued, Bell's ‘Mamlish Blues' and ‘Hambone Blues' were to define the style of the region and his contemporaries. His influences could still be detected in the 70's recordings of fellow Alabamian, John Lee. The circumstances of Bell's death are shrouded in mystery but it is thought he died in the 60's during a civil right's march.