Bell plays the blues

Little Joe Bell arrived at the Woodson Research Center inside Fondren Library Aug. 22 with guitar in tow to provide an oral history of Houston’s blues scene to Norie Guthrie, an archivist and special collections librarian who manages the Houston Blues Museum archives.

Bell’s father, Joe Bell, was a legendary guitarist who played in T. Bone Walker’s band (and was often referred to as Little T. Bone Walker) but later damaged his hands at a job. Bell the younger stepped in to play some gigs, became a renowned local musician and bandleader in his own right, and the rest is history — more specifically, it’s the first oral history of the Houston blues scene to be received and cataloged by Guthrie since the archives first came to Rice in June. (Photos by Tommy LaVergne)