The Hippest Cat I Knew. 
Argyle Bell died in Nashville on April 13th of this year. It was Friday the thirteenth and indeed a sad, unlucky day for his friends. The man was a fixture on the music scene of  Nashville for the past twenty years. His colorful (and sometimes controversial) life in music was unique and noteworthy. He will be missed. 
Argyle was the biggest character I have ever known. For starters he always dressed like a rocker in this Country Music stronghold. With his frightwig stringy long hair and manic giggle he raised eyebrows wherever he went. He could regularly be seen walking around town. Argyle never drove. In my mind I’ve got this clear picture of him wearing bright red cowboy boots with black clothing, wraparound shades and his strange bolo tie that had a real spider encased in it. He used to say to me, “Admit it, Chris, I’m the hippest guy you know. Who’s hipper than me?” Some called his ever-present bravado a load of bullsh**, but I always liked him. Whenever he left a phone message he would say, “Call me,  it’ll change your life. You’ll make lots of money.” He said the same things to all of his friends. The calls were braggadocios but it was nice that he kept us in mind for his many schemes. Underneath his “life of the party” persona was a vulnerable guy with a good heart. 
In many ways he was the coolest guy I knew. I’ve never met anyone with more knowledge about details and who’s who in the history of the first two decades of Rock & Roll than Argyle Bell. He loved to talk music trivia. It was fun to rummage through his incredible record collection of rare and out of print things. And he had cassettes of unreleased recordings. There were many by The Byrds and every offshoot of that group like Gram Parsons, Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn and the rest. I never quite understood why, but The Beau Brummels were his very favorite. He loved The Yardbirds, The Animals, The Hollies and so many more. 
Argyle often used to say to me, as a friendly sort of ribbing, that I owed my career to him. When I started having some success he told me, “I feel like a proud father.” His assessment was not untrue. The first big thing I did in music was to play in Argyle’s series of tributes to Gram Parsons and Clarence White. There were five annual events starting in 1986 and ending in 1990. It was before Parsons was such an “in” cult legend guy. Unfortunately Clarence White, the great lead guitarist of The Byrds and inventor of the shoulder strap B-bender, is still relatively unknown. I was right for the keyboard chair because I had all of the albums by The Byrds and Gram Parsons and the rest of that family tree. Argyle had a lot of trouble finding people with that background. He would ask potential players if they could name any of Gram’s songs and they usually came up lame. 
Argyle did a marvelous job of organizing these tributes. Those nights, still talked about by those who attended, remain among my favorite memories. Through them he raised money for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), his choice of charity because Clarence was killed by a drunk driver in 1973. It took enormous effort on Bell’s part to get so many famous people to come from all over the globe and perform for free. Argyle would complain that organizing these events was more trouble than it was worth. It was no small feat coordinating so many talents and egos into cohesive well-paced concerts. He always got publicity wheels going and logistic nightmares handled. Those five annual events represent the high water mark of Argyle’s career. They featured The Flying Burrito Brothers, Al Perkins, Bernie Leadon, Foster & Lloyd, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bobby Bare, Roland White, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Doug Dillard, Vince Gill, Barry & Holly Tashian, Marty Stuart, Swampwater, Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, Gene Parsons, Ian Dunlop, Jon Corneal, Jason & The Scorchers, Steve Young, Al Kooper, Duane Eddy, Rodney Crowell, Michael Clarke, Jimmy Olander, Gary Tallent, Rosie Flores, Steve Haggard, Joe Sun, Jack Tempchin and many others. Gram’s first wife, Nancy and their daughter, Polly, were there. The oh-so-cool and controversial Nudie jacket Gram wore on the cover of “The Gilded Palace of Sin” (with the marijuana leaves and pills sewed into the Porter Waggoner-style suit) even made an appearance. They were wonderful events and Argyle received acclaim and attention as a result. Music Row Magazine mentioned it each year. The Nashville Network reported on them, bringing film crews to a couple. Probably best of all, Argyle got a well-deserved mention in Ben Fong Torres’ biography of Gram Parsons, “Hickory Wind”. 
Deep down in his heart of hearts, more than anything else, Argyle was a musician. He played with conviction and love for the art. His main instrument was the pedal steel guitar, but he also tackled dobro, mandolin, harmonica and other sound makers. Around the time of those Parsons/White tributes, he led a group called “The Howling Coyotes”. I was among the ever-changing personnel of that band. Bell was not yet doing any singing. When asked where the name came from, Argyle would reply, “Look at the back cover of The Byrds’ ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’ album”. Later he sang lead in “Plastic Paddy”. That was a wild one. Stemming from Argyle’s unique eccentric musical vision, they exhibited elements of punk fused into traditional Irish music while doing vintage type material like “Gloria” and “Do Wah Diddy”. What Argyle lacked as a vocalist, he made up for in exuberance and sheer gall. When he started singing he was excited about it. 
He wasn’t the perfect steel guitarist for a standard country gig. Yet there he was in Nashville playing the instrument most associated with that genre. The thing was, he played it in such an unorthodox manner that it confused or bothered the old-school types. Argyle’s favorite steel player was Sneaky Pete, who played with rock bands and used a fuzz box.
I’ve heard the word “eccentric” used to describe my man all through the years. Of course some would even go so far as to say he was weird. His brash personality coupled with outrageous attire and left-field musical tastes all conspired to make him unusual to say the least. But who needs “normal”? The world can always use a guy like Argyle to shake things up. He was loyal to his friends. That counts for a lot. But there were occasions where he was… shall we say, not appreciated. He came back from one overseas tour with a badly split lip. Argyle had gotten drunk and boisterous in Turkey. He apparently offended some soldiers and got rolled. He said he didn’t remember much about it, but that lip remained scarred for the rest of his days. Long time partner and friend, Steve Haggard relates another great story from that trip. While in Turkey Argyle asked a cab driver how to say “you are very beautiful”. The cabbie gave him words to use. Every time Argyle shouted it to a pretty lady he got a giggling reaction. After doing this many times he finally found out that the words he was saying translated, “I have very small testicles”. Argyle’s friends all have wonderful anecdotes about him. I’ll never forget the time Bob Hatter and I went with him to a Roger McGuinn show at Zanies. For a couple days prior to the show Bell chided us not to embarrass him because we were such big fans. When the day of the show arrived I got this crazy phone message from Argyle saying, “It finally hit me! This is the man of The Byrds, the greatest American rock music institution! Roger…Jim!” He went on and on. When he met McGuinn after the show Argyle started trying to talk his way into working with the man, telling him, “I’ve got a band for you… these guys.” He pointed to Bob and me. We wanted to hide. That was embarrassing.
A handful of successful session guys credit Bell with giving them their start at it. Rick Lonow, Grammy winning drummer, did his first Nashville session with Argyle producing. Scott Baggett, who has found quite a niche for himself as an engineer, credits Bell for getting him started at 16th Avenue sound during the sessions for French artists “Roger & Frank” (I was on that session as well, another one I owe the man). Scott and Argyle went to France with them. Argyle had a photo taken at Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris. He cherished that picture. He was keenly aware of photo opportunities that he might use for promotion. Session men Andy Arrow and Jim Kirby also cite Bell as having advanced their careers.
It’s nearly impossible to piece together a comprehensive overview of Argyle’s life. When he died there was no widow nor siblings and his parents were both deceased. His full name was Charles Argyle Campbell and he was born January 27th, 1951 in Tacoma, Washington. His mother, Mary Agatha McCarthy Campbell, died in 1969 leaving Argyle with a great sense of loss and loneliness as evidenced by some of his letters. He credited her with instilling the love of music into him as a young child. She would sing to him, usually traditional Irish melodies. Argyle said she dated Ozzie Nelson long ago. His father, Charles Roland Campbell, passed away in 1990. He lived most of his childhood years in the Northwest. Bell’s father was a colonel in the Air Force, so the family probably moved a lot before Argyle left home. At one time they were stationed in Alaska. Before leaving the Northwest, he played in club bands by the names of “Stampede Pass” and “Joe Faker Band”. These groups got as far as playing Reno and Tahoe. 
In 1970 while in Manchester, New Hampshire, Bell wrote Jane Fonda asking advice and commentary on behalf of Oregon Associated Students against the war in Viet Nam. He received a reply commending him for his efforts and encouraging him to continue. He wrote an article while with “Oregon Students for McGovern/Shriver” in the September 1972 issue of The Oregon Democrat entitled “I’m Proud To Be A Democrat” (by Chuck Campbell). In it he stated, “We must defeat Nixon, the fate of the country is at stake.” 
Argyle spent most of his early adulthood on the East Coast. There were some years in Boston, enough to sometimes claim he was from there, including (like Gram Parsons) a brief attendance at Harvard. These years had immense impact upon the young man. It was during that time that he saw many classic rock acts in their prime perform. In the late 1970’s Bell worked with Barry and Holly Tashian in Westport, Connecticut. Their group was called “The Outskirts”. They use to play one weekend a month in Greenwich Village at “The City Limits”. Barry recalls Bell always being “an upbeat kind of guy” who was somewhat in awe of the fact that Tashian knew and worked with Gram Parsons and opened for The Beatles at Shea Stadium. Vern Miller, from Barry’s 60’s rock group “The Remains”, was the bass player. Argyle lived in New York during this period. He told a story about getting drunk with Jim Morrison there.  He also spent time in Maine, where he had a cousin. 
Argyle Bell moved to Nashville at the beginning of the 1980’s. After years of drifting he finally found a place to stay. Other than spending most of 1991 in England, he never moved to another city. And, fittingly, he is buried in Nashville. After making so many friends there it became his home. He worked with The Billy Don Burns Band on Jeremiah Records when he first came to town.
For almost ten years Argyle was living on the second floor of Close Quarters near Music Row. He was a fixture there. Passersby could see a big full face picture of Rick Nelson in his window directly above the entrance and the British union jack on display. The tenement house was fondly known as “The Rock & Roll Hotel”. It had funky little studio apartments where wayward musicians would park for a spell. Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark were there for brief periods. Later known as “Third Coast”, the place was definitely the hangout for music people. After any big event you could be sure to find the stars at the bar on the first floor, so crowded it was hard to move. And everybody knew Argyle. He was the biggest character in town. 
Bell was a freelance writer and publicist. He wrote for The Metro, The Scene, Britain’s International Country Music News, The Memphis Star, Bluegrass Unlimited and other publications. Sometimes, for reasons only he knew, he used the pen-name Vanessa Duncan. His articles were invariably about Rock & Roll people from the glory years of the sixties. His personal favorite was Rick Nelson. Bell believed that Nelson was not recognized as the major innovator in music that he should have been. Argyle knew everything there was to know about Rick. He had intended to write a book about him.
Bell’s forte was organizing events. As publicist, he garnered attention for every show he staged. He always delivered press releases, photos and interviews to those who might be interested. After the five landmark tributes to Gram Parsons and Clarence White, Argyle felt he’d had enough of the Byrds’ family tree. Whenever he complained that these things were a terrible headache, I would always counter that they were worth it because results were fantastic. In late 1990 Argyle turned his attention to another avenue of classic rock. He put together another memorable multiple-artist concert event, “London Calling Nashville”. The idea was to gather all of the English musicians in town together for a delightful trip down memory lane into the tavern world of merrie old England in the “swinging sixties”. It was a smashing success. He had a major write-up in the Tennessean with no less than a full colour cover story in the “Sunday Scene” section. The talent included Michael Snow, Tony Colton, Gilly Elkin and Tony Newman. 
Argyle was a huge fan of England and her golden age rock acts. It was always a thrill for him to meet participants. He got me to take him to a book signing to get photos and autographs with Pete Best. He especially loved the mid-sixties. Besides the previously mentioned groups, he loved Manfred Mann, The Kinks, The Stones, The Pretty Things and The Zombies. He didn’t go for The Beatles as much, because Argyle championed the lesser known. He knew details about every group. Who produced, wrote, did what, when and probably even why. He didn’t like the psychedelic Haight/Ashbury music much. He loved the folk/rock and beat groups. Of course he liked Dylan. And just like a lot of people, he lost interest in most of the later stuff except for some punk groups. He would go on about The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. He especially loved The Pogues because they spoke directly to his Irish anti-establishment rocker soul. 
As one might guess from his name and activities Argyle was of emerald descent. Although the Campbells are Scottish (known as the clan of rabble rousers), Bell identified more with his mother’s side. He stated, “The focus of Celtic music is real people singing real songs about love and war. The Irish are very passionate people and the songs reflect that. They don’t pull any punches.” Many people remember him as the musical director at the Seanachie Irish Pub in downtown Nashville. Musically speaking Argyle Bell put them on the map. He hosted a weekly Celtic Writers night there. Knowing all the players in town, he was able to keep a regular supply of outstanding performers on the stage. There he also organized the 1999 Irish Festival and “Plastic Paddy” served as the house band. It featured Susie Monick, Holly O’Dell, Brian Klune, Emmy Davies and Stick Davis with Argyle doing his outrageous renditions of classic favorites. Other people who played with the group were Brent Moyer, Brian O’Hanlon, Ricko Donovan and Troy Guinn. Bell sang, played mandolin, harmonica, tambourine, dobro… you name it. “Plastic Paddy” was crazy but fun.
Argyle’s resume was impressive. In 1990 The Nashville Music Awards picked him as Steel/Dobro player of the year. He played with a lot of big name artists. Many of them were people who performed in one of his shows. But one way or another he was continually around the famous. For instance, he played on a demo with Garth Brooks before the guy hit big. He did sessions with Elvis’ drummer, D.J. Fontana and Buddy Holly’s bass player Joe B. Mauldin. Among the acts with whom he played road gigs were the Cactus Brothers, Ronnie Prophet, Bobby Morrison, The Hagar Twins, George Riddle and Joe Sun. He was a regular in the touring group of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. He led two other groups, “Argyle Bell’s Trailer Trash” and “Argyle Bell’s Worst Nightmare” that played at Sherlock Holmes Pub in Elliston Place. Bell always played St. Patrick’s Day. In fact his last gig was at the Blackstone Brewery on Saint Patty’s Day 2001 as a trio because most of the players who had been in his previous groups had gone onto working with big name artists. He also did three tours of Europe with his buddy, singer/songwriter Steve Haggard. Steve fondly remembers the time they sang “Ferry ‘Cross The Mersey” as they actually were aboard it. In 1999 he went to Finland and worked with an Irish band (from there!). In 2000 he played in South America as a solo artist. He joked that he was regarded as the “Brazilian Garth Brooks”. He seemed to be able to find ways to get booked overseas fairly often. 
Argyle also found clients as a record producer. The most notable albums he did were Dan Shanahan – “The Irish Travelin’ Man” (comedy), Bill Booth (a Country/folk singer from Oslo, Norway) and “The Limerick Rakes” (a traditional Irish group). 
Around the first part of the 1990’s Argyle’s father passed away and left him a large sum of money. With newfound financial freedom, Bell chose to spend a year in the UK. He played and listened to a lot of music, hung out with famous people and found a girlfriend. In all the time I’ve known him I think this period was his happiest. An American in London…that’s what he wanted to be. Michael Sutcliffe, one of Bell’s closest friends and a Nashville resident originally from London, remembers the day that he met Argyle in Victoria Station when both Tennesseans were visiting Britain. “It took on such a strange, almost surreal air for the two of us to be there, knowing that Argyle was so in love with England.” While there he got a chance to sing with Manfred Mann’s Blues Band. It was one of the greatest thrills of his life. He also had his photo taken with Yardbirds’ drummer Jim McCarty.
Because he was unable to secure a work permit in England, Bell returned to Nashville and moved into an apartment/condo in the Green Hills area. He bought recording equipment and began to promote his own studio. Having established credentials as a producer, he wanted his own place in which to do it. He named his business Elygra Enterprises (his first name spelled backwards). He printed a bio/promo sheet for mailing and business cards. He placed ads in trade magazines and drummed up a little bit of business. There was an ad in Britain’s Country Music Roundup, “Want To Record In Nashville?”.He used to use the photo he had of himself with Buck Owens in these ads. He was very proud of that picture.
Everybody who knew Argyle has some kind of wild recollection of the guy. He just wasn’t your ordinary cat. I remember one time at the Sherlock Holmes pub in Elliston Place some guy was badmouthing him. Longtime pal, Pat McInerney, drummer for Nanci Griffith, spoke right up and said that as far as he was concerned Argyle was a great guy. Pat continued that Bell had done a lot of nice things for people and considered him a true friend. It shut the detractor up. Ace drummer, Dave Fontana, remembers being on the guy’s first road gig after coming to town. They were playing with George Riddle. “I roomed with Argyle. He was a likable guy but I thought he was pretty weird when he got out a ruler while shaving in order to get those Mr. Spock-like angular sideburns.” Fontana has another memory of Bell bringing a girl home from a gig in Clarksville. It was the dead of winter, freezing outside and they were in a pick-up truck. Argyle and the girl rode in back thinking they could keep each other warm. Dave said by the time they got to Nashville the two were nearly frozen. 
Argyle was famous for the fact that he never drove. He just didn’t care to. He would walk or talk a friend into taking him where he wanted to go. He was in his mid forties before he got his first driver’s license and car. Apparently it was enough to drive all his friends a little crazy. 
He was working on a solo album the time of his death. He started writing songs in 1999. The words reflected his preoccupation with somber moods. Tunes like “Living On The Darkside” and “More Dead Than Alive” take on chilling new meaning now that he is deceased. The Argyle Bell album on Elygra Records is available through the website: info@wildoatsrecords.com. It now stands as his only album.
Goodbye old friend. You’re going to be missed by all the people whose lives you touched. Thanks for the memories. I hope you’re in a better place. Peace.

All he wanted was to be free and that’s the way it turned out to be. Flow river flow, let your waters wash down, take me from this road to some other town.
 

A Tribute To Argyle Bell will take place at Douglas Corner on Monday, June 18th starting at 8PM.  As of press time performers include: Bill Lloyd, Al Perkins, Barry & Holly Tashian, Steve Haggard, Walter Egan, Supe Granda, Plastic Paddy, Mr. Hyde, Pat McInerney, Michael Snow, Donna Frost & Jack Howell, The Lost Sideshow and The Howling Coyotes. There will be other well known artists added to this list, including surprise guests.  $5 donation requested (no one will be turned away). Proceeds go to The Argyle Bell Memorial Fund. Attendees will receive a copy of the Argyle Bell CD.