In April 2009, One Man’s Music: The Life and Times of Texas Songwriter Vince Bell, was published by the University of North Texas Press as the third in their North Texas Lives of Musicians series. That same month, Vince premiered his one-man show, based on the book, at the 25th Annual Conference of the Brain Injury Association of Texas.
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. This is a fine book about Texas music, the singer-songwriter tradition, and a personal journey that ends triumphant in the here and now. I’m proud to know Vince as both a friend and a fellow traveler.
Vince was a great songwriter before the accident, and he has continued to be a great songwriter after the accident. He writes songs about his life, and when I listen to Vince’s songs, I want to know about the person singing the songs. I think that’s what great songs do.
This is a triumphant tale of distance and reunion, of shrapnel and balm, and of a man and his guitar who manage to find poetry in tenacity. Vince is singular. This book is communal.
Bell demystifies the life of the traveling troubadour, revealing it for the difficult life it often is.
Bell demystifies the life of the traveling troubadour, revealing it for the difficult life it often is.
Bell’s tales ring true, imbued with a sense of wonder and a palpable joie de vivre. Often reading like riveting song-sketches, Bell’s vignettes include distilled accounts of far-flung road-gig mishaps and breakthroughs . . . exasperating glimpses of “Townes unbridled” . . . and rewarding musical reunions.
Music has produced some great literature over the centuries, but rarely is it written by a musician. Dylan’s Chronicles is one glaring exception of course. This latest exception from Bell will resonate with folks more than Dylan’s stratospheric world, and that’s a good thing.
All music lovers and those who love autobiography and music history will be interested in One Man’s Music.
Vince Bell’s understated and elegant writing connects like a live wire, showering the reader with the sparks of his unique experiences and shedding light on the struggles and pleasures of a troubadour who endures the most bitter twists and turns, survives, and prevails.
