Call him the best-kept secret in Canadian music.
Winnipeg-based singer/songwriter Steve Bell has enjoyed serious commercial success over a prolific solo career that has spanned two decades, but he has flown rather under the radar in terms of music industry and media recognition. His large and loyal fan base has continued to grow, here and in the U.S., and with his new album, Kindness, Bell is reaching out to the wider audience his eloquent and heartfelt material deserves.
“Bell seems to sidestep the abstract virtues of compassion, humility and charity that burst from the doctrinal texts and get to some hands-on lyrics about doing good consistently, rather than thinking good thoughts and performing random acts. You don’t have to think about it.
The songs are drifting, comfortable and produced with a level of loving care and lyrical ease that you would expect from Paul Simon or James Taylor. It is, after all Bell’s 16th album, with two Juno wins and a tour with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra behind him.”
Kindness features new original songs alongside tunes from some of Bell’s favourite writers.
“A lot of the songs on the album have a general underlying quality of kinship,” he says. “Kin is the root of kind, so we’re focusing on that meaning, whether between us and creation and nature or between others. I don’t usually have a preconceived theme for an album, but when I look back I often see one there.”
Vancouver Island has been given a gift – a chance to see Bell. Come to Discovery Community Church (250 10th Avenue) to experience the music of Steve Bell on Thursday, Oct. 20.
Tickets are $15. Doors open 6 p.m.
For tickets call 1-800-854-3499. Online at www.stevebell.com
Locally at Discovery Community Church – 250-287-8786, Cornerstone Gifts, Books & Music – 250-287-9931 1430 Ironwood Street