Beth Bell Bio

“I am the bastard love child of Janis Joplin & Jim Morrison, except that one
day while Jimbo took a trip in the desert, Janis was in NYC banging Lou Reed. It's all a little fuzzy from there, ... and yes, I'm actually a girl!
... well, currently!”

Beth Bell’s (aka BeTh isBell) journey to become the psychedelic punk glam rocker she is today hasn’t - by any means - taken a traditional musician’s path to artistic fruition. Beth, born as a young boy named Bill in Columbus, GA, grew up in the US and Europe through school, college and law school as boy. Then as a man. And, now a woman. Now an accomplished musician with a library of diverse yet equally compelling recordings, Beth’s gift as a songwriter and infectious live performances mix elements of both genders, all while maintaining, at the core, a magical soul and mastery of craft capable of inspiring the hope within all of us to be who we truly are.

 “Adversity challenges one’s true soul to emerge,” Beth often says.

The struggle to overcome infects her lyrics, propelled by a resonant assault of musical textures that contrasts peace sought with the war in one’s mind. Beautiful, haunting at times, her music has the power to fill and teach souls. Beth’s powerful songs and performances are summed up by her personal haiku: "I live to create, fucking art for the masses. This bitch loves to rock!"

Beth’s musical journey began in the late 90s, after a divorce, as she was winding down her career as a civil rights attorney and beginning her journey to cross the gender divide. She fell in love with music, singing songs around campfires with talented songwriter and guitarist friends. Infused with these folk influences, the first country song she ever wrote, “The Good Woman Waltz” became the title cut of her first CD, originally released under the name Bill Isbell, and the #1 song in the Texas Top 40 for original songwriters. Simultaneously, she began furiously writing punk rock songs and released The Flying Lennys EP a punk-pop collection that featured a special guest appearance by one of her close friends, neighbor, and musical mentors, Jazz man Joe McBride.

Living as a women in a man’s body was not an easy evolution; Beth was thrown out of clubs & banned from playing some of her favorite venues as her soul and body transitioned. But, she persevered. During this trying period, she focused on song writing and improving her performance skills (Beth describes herself “as a song-writer first, who loves to perform”) as the front person for Dallas psychedelic blues rock band - and underground critic darlings - The Dead Prophets. Beth’s prolific songwriting continued and she placed in several national songwriting competitions and went on to release a number of EPs spanning genres including coffee-house style folk rock and blues: “Live @ The Blue Moon” (B. Isbell 2008), “The Awakening” (B. Isbell 2008), and the “Aardvark” (Beth Isbell 2009).

Beth’s current sound can be described as a mix of an acoustic & electric Neil Young guitar assault and a David Bowie/Iggy Pop voice, which with a full band, blends passionate delivery & a Morrison/Joplin-era sound. One fan recently described Beth's sound as "Jim Morrison backed up by The Stooges (Iggy Pop).  In September 2014, Beth and her band alternative psychedelic rock band BeThisBell (http://www.sonicbids.com/band/bethisbell/), a collection of good friends who first met at music college (ACM@UCO) released “We Are The Gods!” - a full-length psychedelic-grunge-punk-glam rock album, produced by Trent Bell (Chainsaw Kittens).  The band issued a 5 song follow up EP "Work It Out" in April 2015, with Trent Bell producing again.  The band BeThisBell is currently set to record a follow-up album with Trent Bell in August 2015, for release in Spring 2016 (approx.). 

Beth is scheduled to release her first two singles under her new Beth Bell stage name, with Love Sublime as the A-side, and Hey Humboldt! as the B-Side on July 28, 2015.  Pre-orders are available now on iTunes or CDBaby.

Beth is also a radio DJ hosting The Flower Power Hour psychedelic rock show on KMUD FM on the North California coast.

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Music Publishers:  Essex Music International, Inc., TRO Workshop Prod., Inc., and WCI Publishing, L.L.C.
Music Attorney:  Tomy McDonald, Broken Arrow (Tulsa), OK
Music Publicist:  Jory White, Vesperize PR, San Francisco, CA



http://www.sonicbids.com/band/bethisbell/