In this Book
- One Man's Music: The Life and Times of Texas Songwriter Vince Bell
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: University of North Texas Press
- Series: Lives of Musicians
summary
Texas singer/songwriter Vince Bell’s story begins in the 1970s. Following the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Bell and his contemporaries Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and Lucinda Williams were on the rise. In December of 1982, Bell was on his way home from the studio (where he and hired guns Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson had just recorded three of Bell’s songs) when a drunk driver broadsided him at 65 mph. Thrown over 60 feet from his car, Bell suffered multiple lacerations to his liver, embedded glass, broken ribs, a mangled right forearm, and a severe traumatic brain injury. Not only was his debut album waylaid for a dozen years, life as he’d known it would never be the same. In detailing his recovery from the accident and his roundabout climb back onstage, Bell shines a light in those dark corners of the music business that, for the lone musician whose success is measured not by the Top 40 but by nightly victories, usually fall outside of the spotlight. Bell’s prose is not unlike his lyrics: spare, beautiful, evocative, and often sneak-up-on-you funny. His chronicle of his own life and near death on the road reveals what it means to live for one’s art.
Table of Contents
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- List of Illustrations
- pp. vii-x
- I. Sorcerer’s Apprentice
- pp. 1-3
- III. Sweat Like a Boxer
- pp. 10-13
- IV. Sinbad and the Silver Tooth
- pp. 14-20
- VII. Secret Mountain Laboratory
- pp. 31-33
- VIII. Six Strings, No Kick
- pp. 34-40
- IX. Three-Day Ride to the Kitchen
- pp. 41-45
- X. The Songwriter
- pp. 46-48
- XII. Bermuda Triangle
- pp. 52-54
- XIII. Name Unknown
- pp. 55-65
- XIV. Rumor of My Demise
- pp. 66-73
- XV. Room 933
- pp. 74-80
- XVII. Providence Street
- pp. 89-101
- XIX. Path of Least Regret
- pp. 110-121
- XX. Music School
- pp. 122-134
- XXI. Edge of the World
- pp. 135-143
- XXII. Monday for Two Years
- pp. 144-151
- XXIII. Keep Your Eyes in the Sky
- pp. 152-160
- XXIV. Second Street
- pp. 161-165
- XXV. Fate Worse Than Death
- pp. 166-173
- XXVI. Wizard of Odds
- pp. 174-178
- XXVII. Adrift in Paradise
- pp. 179-189
- XXVIII. Give Chance a Chance
- pp. 190-198
- XXIX. Prize for Not Working Hard Enough
- pp. 199-202
- XXX. Phoenix
- pp. 203-213
- XXXI. “Album of a Lifetime”
- pp. 214-218
- XXXII. The Poetry in the Prose
- pp. 218-221
- XXXIII. Play Like You Practice
- pp. 222-229
- XXXIV. Texas Plates
- pp. 230-235
- XXXV. Say in Your Owndamnway
- pp. 236-240
- XXXVI The Bottom Line
- pp. 241-245
- XXXVII. Live in Texas
- pp. 246-251
- XXXVIII. Rough Old Texas Hands
- pp. 252-253
Additional Information
ISBN
9781574413656
Related ISBN(s)
9781574412666
MARC Record
OCLC
613205853
Pages
288
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No