Country singer and songwriter Luke BellMatt, whose throwback style blended the Texas, Nashville and Bakersfield dynasties, according to his friend and collaborator Matt Kinman. He was 32 years old.
Bell, who suffered from severe bipolar disorder, had flown to Arizona with Kinman for work, but went missing on Saturday, August 20 in Tucson. He was found dead about a week later. to me SavingCountryMusic.com, “Not far from where he disappeared, in a way we all dread when we first heard the news.” The cause of his death is still pending an autopsy.
Kinman, who has played with Bill for the past six years, told outlets, “We came to Arizona, to work here, play some music, and he just took off. He was in the back of the truck. I went to get something to eat. I got out and he got off the truck and left.”
After Kinman lost the speculation, “He could be in Tucson. But he probably jumped on a freight train,” which was not unusual for Bell. According to SaveCountryMusic, “generally semi-trampled and floating,” Bell was hopping around and couch skating as he sharpened his pieces during his formative musical years.
In 2015, Rolling Stone described his voice as “a classic honky-tonk sound with a wink and yodel”. This unique combination earned him opening spots with Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and Dwight Yokham.
Bell has released three albums: self-published for the first time in 2012, Don’t mind if I do in 2014 and a eponymous disc in 2016.
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