Return of a musician

Album talk

The pioneering label Stax Records is best known for gritty, down-and-dirty soul classics by such giants as Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Sam and Dave. But one of the singles that first put the Memphis company on the map was the stately, elegant ballad ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’, written and recorded in 1961 by a rising local singer named William Bell.

Though the song only grazed the charts, it was a defining cornerstone of the Southern soul sound. The next year, though, Bell was drafted into the military, and by the time he was discharged in 1965, Stax had an established lineup of stars. He remained a part of the label until it shuttered in 1975 — most notably, as a writer of ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ for Albert King in 1967 — but never quite regained his position as one of the Memphis elite.

Bell has released This Is Where I Live, his first album in more than a decade. It also represents his return to Stax, which was revived as an imprint by Concord Records in 2004.

Comments on comeback

Over lunch in Midtown Manhattan, Bell, 76, looked fit and dapper, dressed in shades of brown and tan. Remarkably, he was staying in the same Times Square hotel where he wrote ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ while feeling homesick on tour more than 50 years ago. Bell claimed that even if the new Stax involved a different team in a different location, he felt a certain accountability about putting out music under the legendary logo. “We created a new genre, and it’s a responsibility to uphold that and also try to bring it forward a little bit,” he said. “As kids, we never thought that Stax would stop going, and then when it folded, it was devastating to us. So to have it come back, I don’t take it lightly.”

John Leventhal, who produced the album, said that he immediately sensed what he did and didn’t want to do with Bell. “I knew it shouldn’t be overtly nostalgic, or just a pastiche of clichés,” said Leventhal, best known for his work with his wife, Rosanne Cash, and such singer-songwriters as Shawn Colvin and Michelle Branch.

 Bell was truly a team player during Stax’s glory days, writing songs and contributing to sessions by other artistes while continuing to cut sophisticated, emotional tracks that are still treasured by soul aficionados, including ‘Everybody Loves a Winner’, ‘I Forgot to Be Your Lover’ and ‘Private Number’.

His compositions had a melancholy feel and narrative structure that veered close to country music and proved influential in Memphis and Nashville. “Because he could write, William became a henchman at the label, one of the hubs in the wheel — a go-to guy,” said Booker T Jones of Booker T & the MG’s, the Stax house band, and a frequent co-writer, in a telephone interview. After the demise of Stax, Bell moved to Atlanta. He never left music — he started a production company and a label, and had his biggest hit in 1977 with ‘Tryin’ to Love Two’. His songs have been covered by Billy Idol and sampled by Kanye West and Ludacris; he also took acting lessons and even played Stanley Kowalski in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

All of his experiences inform the songs on This Is Where I Live. He and Leventhal pointed to the album’s opener, ‘The Three of Me’, as being indicative of the mature direction they wanted to pursue. “It’s more introspective,” Bell said. “It’s still about love, but not the passion of a younger guy. It’s an older guy reflecting.” Leventhal added that they developed material that would be “compelling for a 75-year-old man — it’s not becoming of a great singer to sing something they would have done 50 years earlier.”

Expressions of wisdom

Though his songwriting was always characterised by a graceful simplicity, Bell continues to refine his work. “There’s a calmness now with my demeanour,” he said. “I’m able to express myself better now than I did as a teenager. I’ve travelled the world; I have a better perspective on life, on people, on my career. I’m very fortunate — a lot of my peers are gone, and it’s very gratifying to have lasted this long, still intact.”

Inevitably, though, he continues to look back on his days as part of one of America’s most mythic musical communities. He admits to some disappointment with his initial run at Stax but lights up talking about visiting Redding’s Georgia ranch or recording with Booker T & the MG’s, 2 members of whom he knew from church. “It really was like an extended family,” he said. “Long before integration, we got behind those walls at Stax, and the only thing that mattered was what you brought to the table in terms of talent and creativity. We didn’t care about race, gender, whatever. We honed our craft in that building and learned about the intricacies of music and songwriting and how to express an idea. So for me to come full circle and sign with Stax again, it feels like home,” he said.