Arion Bell has spent most of his life playing the blues.
Born to Tom and Bertha May Bell on July 20, 1960, Arion E. Bell was one of 10 children and the youngest son, earning him his nickname “Babybell.”
He grew up on Jefferson Street in Yazoo City and attended school at Woolfolk Elementary, Webster Elementary, and Yazoo City Junior High and High Schools.
Bell said that he first started playing music at the age of 12 when a cousin taught him how to play the drums. Soon after, local Yazooans began to notice his talent, landing him an opportunity to play with a group called the Gospel Soul Seekers.
While playing with the Gospel Soul Seekers, Bell soon began learning to play the bass guitar around age 13. He developed his own style with the bass guitar.
It wasn’t long before Bell started to pick at the acoustic guitar, and away he went, practicing day and night and mimicking the hand movements and sounds made by other musicians he had seen or heard on television or the radio.
Bell says that while he has the ability to read sheet music, he prefers more to listen to a CD and play by ear.
“If I hear it I pick it up faster than trying to pick the notes on paper,” said Bell.
In his many years as a musician, Bell has had the opportunity to play with several different bands in several genres.
Aside from the Gospel Soul Seekers, Bell played with a local band called Blackenized Magnafunk.
“They adopted me from the Gospel Soul Seekers,” said Bell, “I played a funky bass. They liked my style.”
Since then, Bell has played with other local musicians in small groups such as Keith Johnson, Joe Henry Smith, and other friends.
Bell describes himself as being a rock guitarist of the “Electric, church, rock, blues type.” He says that his favorite musician is Jimi Hendrix.
Bell has bounced all over several different genres over the years, such as Gospel, Funk, Rock, R&B, and most of all the Blues.
Something just “popped” in Bells head one day, he said, that told him Yazoo was the Blues Territory and that inspired him to give it a try instead of focusing only on rock and funk music.
“I knew a lot of blues from listening to my mom put on those 45s” said Bell.
These old records held artists such as Milton Campbell, Bobby Bland, and Albert King, which Bell used to learn to play the blues.
But Bell wasn’t satisfied with just playing music alone or with a band. He wanted to record his music and make money doing what he loved.
After spending a few years traveling to different recording studios, Bell eventually acquired his own equipment and set up his own studio at home.
“I bought a recorder, bought some monitors and a recording mic and started setting up and recording one pick at a time,” said Bell, “Lay down the drums track, bass track, rhythm track, and the lead vocals. Get them together and boom there’s a song.”
Over the years, Bell has played in many local concerts such as the Jerry Clower Festival, the Bottoms Up Fest, and the Bentonia Blues Festival.
Bell also has been asked countless times to play for private events and parties.
He says that he has given lessons and mentored aspiring musicians before, but doesn’t do it often because so many people lack the patience to practice and learn the right way.
“They want to be the solo artist, they want to be the star. It’s taken me 40 years to do that,” said Bell.
Bell’s advice to aspiring musicians is to “Never let anybody tell you what you can or can’t do. You can do anything that you put your mind to.”
“If you want to play guitar, take your time and learn the chords,” Bell continued, “Learn the basics, once you learn the basics you can play a G, C, D, or F chord, and you can play almost every song that’s been written.”
Bell spends most of his time these days as what he calls a “Gun for Hire,” meaning that he is always available as an extra man for a band or event needing a musician.
“It’s fun. I love music” said Bell.
