Aspiring musicians realize that dues must be paid on the way up the career ladder, and singer-songwriter Emily Bell is no exception, despite what appears to be a lengthy musical resume. Bell has studied musical theater since the age of 5, attended prestigious performing arts schools in Texas and New York, and worked in the music scenes of Houston, New York, Los Angeles and now Austin.
But it wasn’t until May 28 that she released her debut CD. She views the time between the launch of her career and the CD release as merely waiting for the right circumstances and people to find their way to her.
The result of it all coming together is In Technicolor, produced independently, with help from co-writer and producer John Evans.
“I wasn’t able to do my music the way I wanted it when I was in Los Angeles or Houston, so I made it to Austin, which is home now,” Bell says from the 38-foot RV that was carrying her and her band of five like-minded musicians to Brooklyn, N.Y., for a show. “I got to Austin three years ago and got with John, and we wrote the album together and he produced it.”
The album’s first single, which is also a video, is “Back to the Way I Was.” In the video, band members wear animal masks, cavort and ride tiny bicycles, which, Bell says, added to the fun of making the piece.
“That was just my way of making a statement about how I was, well, getting back to the way I was,” she explains.
Bell grew up in College Station, Texas, and quickly found her joy in musical theater. She had roles as a young girl in the plays Miracle on 34th Street, Gypsy, The Sound of Music, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Godspell, and, naturally, Annie, in which she had the title role.
“I went to a performing arts school in Houston, then went on to one in Manhattan when I was 11,” she says. “I graduated early, at 17, because I wanted to get my career off the ground, so I moved back to Houston and worked in a bar and learned how to play music and sing in a band.
“Then I went to California for four years before I realized I should go back to Texas if I wanted to do my own thing.”
Along the way, she has accumulated influences that include Ella Fitzgerald, Mick Jagger, Ray Charles, Janis Joplin, Elton John and Billie Holiday.
“But I only do originals in my live shows,” she hastens to add.
In Austin, she performs at such prominent venues as Antone’s, The Continental Club and Threadgill’s, plus a Hill Country show at the legendary Gruene Hall, at which she opened for Hendrix College graduate and noted Texas musician Hayes Carll.
Bell says tonight’s show will be her first in Arkansas, as she begins to accumulate states on her gradually expanding map of performance places.
Featured band The Bohannons is based in Chattanooga, Tenn., where the group has played with Lucero, Jason Isbell and J. Roddy Walston & the Business. Formed in the early 1990s by brothers Matt and Marty Bohannon, the band made its first recording in a garage at the brothers’ parents’ home. The group combines elements of country, blues, folk, power pop, punk and rock into a sound that has been compared to the music of The Band, Frank Black, Roky Erickson and Crazy Horse.
The Bohannons’ first album, Songs for the Disenfranchised, was followed in 2011 by Days of Echo and in 2012 by Unaka Rising. Finishing touches are being applied to a new album, set for release this fall.
The Bohannons Opening act Emily Bell 10 p.m. today, White Water Tavern, West Seventh and Thayer streets, Little Rock Admission: suggested donation of $5 (501) 375-8400 whitewatertavern.com
Style, Pages 25 on 07/23/2013