Thin Lizzy Legend - ERIC BELL TRIO + THE SOUTHERN ROCK BAND

An amazing double bill

THIN LIZZY FOUNDING MEMBER - ERIC BELL TRIO

Plus THE SOUTHERN ROCK BAND (Formerly The Southern Rock Anthology)

For one night only

Eric Bell may not have been present for Thin Lizzy's best-known and most successful era (the mid- to late '70s), but he was there for the group's formation as a founding member. Born on September 3, 1947 in Belfast, Ireland, Bell played guitar throughout the '60s for several bands (including Them and John Farrell & the Dreams), but paid the bills by working as a street gas-lamp lighter, and in both pickle and shirt factories. One night in 1969, Bell caught a gig by another local Irish outfit, Orphanage, which featured bassist/singer Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey. Soon after, Bell relocated to Dublin, where he joined up with the others to form hin Lizzy.

Bell's bluesy, Hendrix-esque leads were perfect for the hard rock direction that both Lynott and Downey sought for their new outfit, which led to a recording contract with the Deram label. Three albums followed in as many years -- 1971's self-titled debut, 1972's Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and 1973's Vagabonds of the Western World -- the latter of which contained a pair of early Lizzy classics, "Whiskey in the Jar" and "The Rocker." Bell, Lynott, and Downey also issued an additional recording in 1973 under the alias of Funky Junction, the self-explanatory A Tribute to Deep Purple. But Bell became unhappy with izzy's more streamlined musical direction (he longed for the early days of free-form jamming). After single-handedly sabotaging an important hometown Dublin gig with unpredictable and drunken behavior, the guitarist was sacked.

The fast-paced life of being in a rock band had taken its toll on Bell, who had to take a break from being in a band for several years. But a few years later (by which time Lizzy had become a worldwide hit with a pair of replacement guitarists, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham), Bell was ready to play music again. When ex-Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding launched a solo career during the middle of the decade, Bell signed on as the project's guitarist, playing on such releases as 1975's Clonakilty Cowboys and 1976's Blowin' before moving on. For the remainder of the '70s, Bell appeared on such obscure recordings as a self-titled release by Brush Shiels and a Phil Lynott-produced single for Ron McQuinn. With his differences between his former Lizzy bandmates long settled, Bell reunited with Lynott and Downey for a one-off flexi-single for a Euro magazine, "Song for Jimi," and even joined Lizzy on-stage for a night during the group's final tour in 1983 (documented on the double-disc set ife).

The early '80s also saw Bell attempt to launch his own group, the Eric Bell Band. But aside from a four-track EP in 1981, the group failed to get off the ground. Bell then joined up with blues-rockers Mainsqueeze (playing on their 1983 release, International Blues Rock Revue), who also briefly backed Bo Diddley during a European tour in 1984, and appeared on the subsequent live Diddley recording, Hey Bo Diddley/In Concert (aka "Bo Diddley/Screamin' Jay Hawkins"). Bell began performing again under the name of the Eric Bell Band during the late '90s, eventually issuing such recordings as 2001's Live Tonite...Plus!, 2008's Irish Boy, and 2010's Lonely Nights in London. In 2016, he returned with the studio effort Exile, which featured original material alongside a cover of Little Richard's "Rip It Up." The following year, Bell was back with Standing at a Bus Stop, which featured more originals as well as covers of Howlin' Wolf's "Back Door Man" and Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train."

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THE SOUTHERN ROCK ANTHOLOGY BAND

Rock music's origins lie mostly in the music of the American South, and many stars from the first wave of 1950s rock and roll. However, the British Invasion and the rise of folk rock and psychedelic rock in the middle 1960s shifted the focus of new rock music away from the rural south and to large cities like Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. In the 1960s, rock musician Lonnie Mack blended black and white roots-music genres within the framework of rock, beginning with the hit song "Memphis" in 1963. Music historian Dick Shurman considers Mack's recordings from that era "a prototype of what later could be called Southern rock". From late 1960s to early 1970s, popular musicians in south area were Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival (from California), Leon Russell, Delaney & Bonnie, Dale Hawkins, and Tony Joe White.The Allman Brothers Band made their debut in 1969 and gained a loyal following. Their blues rock sound on one hand incorporated long jams informed by jazz, and on the other hand drew from native elements of country and folk. They were also contemporary in their electric guitar and keyboard delivery."^[Late 1970s southern rock bands such as The Atlanta Rhythm Section were gained hit with bluesy vocal. While Allman Brothers offshoot Sea Level explored crossover and jazz fusion. Wet Willie, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter Group,Grinderswitch, and Black Oak Arkansas were also popular southern rock musicians in 1970s. Loosely associated with the country music style of Southern rock were acts like Barefoot Jerry from North Carolina. The Outlaws from Tampa, Florida, brought bluegrass licks into their music.

Charlie Daniels' self-titled debut album, released in 1970, was a pivotal recording in the development of the Southern rock genre, "because it points the way to how the genre could and would sound, and how country music could retain its hillbilly spirit and rock like a mother." Daniels was described as "a redneck rebel, not fitting into either the country or the rock & roll [...] but, in retrospect, he sounds like a visionary, pointing the way to the future when southern rockers saw no dividing lines between rock, country, and blues, and only saw it all as sons of the south." Daniels later formed the Charlie Daniels Band, a group which fused rock, country, blues, and jazz. Daniels "helped shape the sound of country-rock". In the early 1970s other Southern rock groups emerged, influenced by the British rock and hard rock guitar sound: notably, the sound of Richie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page,and Paul Kossoff. The harder rocking Southern groups' music emphasized boogie rhythms and fast guitar leads with lyrics extolling love affair, dream, desire, hard work, of Southern working-class young adults, like the outlaw country movement. Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded "Free Bird", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Saturday Night Special" and "What's Your Name". They played British hard rock influenced music until the deaths of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and two other members of the group in a 1977 airplane crash. .

The Marshall Tucker Band opened many of The Allman Brothers Band concerts and were creatively on par with The Allman Brothers Band, using elements of blues, country rock and blues rock in their music.They gained hit "Heard it in a Love Song" in 1977. Duane Allman's playing on the two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968, Hall hired Allman to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Allman's work on that album, Hey Jude (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as Eric Clapton, who later related how he heard Pickett's version of "Hey Jude" on his car radio and called Atlantic Records to find out who the guitarist was: "To this day," Clapton said, "I've never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It's the best." Duane Allman was killed by motorcycle accident in 1971. Louisiana's Le Roux ranged from Cajun-flavored sound early years, on to a more AC, hard rock, arena rock sound later on.

The 1990s also saw the Black Crowes rise to mainstream popularity with the releases of Shake Your Money Maker (3× platinum), the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 and certified 2× platinum), and Amorica (certified Gold).

New musicians such as the Tedeschi Trucks Band (the Derek Trucks Band), Warren Haynes, Gov't Mule, Chris Duarte Group, Dixie Witch, The Marcus King Band, Whiskey Myers, Widespread Panic, the Black Crowes, Blackberry Smoke, Kid Rock JJ Grey & Mofro, and the Allman Betts Band are continued the Southern rock art form.

Much of the old style Southern rock (as well as other classic rock) has made its transition into the country music genre, establishing itself along the lines of outlaw country in recent years.Several of the original early 1970s Southern rock groups are still performing in 2020. This list includes Atlanta Rhythm Section (ARS),The Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchet, Outlaws, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Black Oak Arkansas, .38 Special and Dickey Betts.

Southern Rock has it place on the matlepiece of Rock and Roll. Good Time Hard Driving Beer drinking music will always survive.

I can guarantee you that THE SOUTHERN ROCK BAND will have everyone in the room rocking, rolling and singing their hearts out on this juggernaught of a double bill.