Late last week, Thirty Tigers released The King Is Back, the long-awaited posthumous album from acclaimed country troubadour Luke Bell, who passed away in 2022. The 28-song collection brings together all of Bell’s unreleased recordings, tracked between November 2013 and August 2016, offering an intimate portrait of a singular artist whose songwriting captured the humor, heartbreak, and humanity of working-class America.
Watch The King Is Back by Luke Bell
The project was lovingly assembled by Luke’s mother, Carol Bell, and manager Brian Buchanan, with support from his sister, Jane Bell, and Tiffany Buchanan. Production credits include Andrija Tokic, Stephen Daly, Justin Frances, and Bell himself. Luke wrote every song on the collection.
Available today on digital platforms, CD, and a double LP pressed on cloud-colored vinyl, the deluxe edition also includes a 24-page lyric booklet featuring rare photos and liner notes penned by Carol Bell.
Watch The River by Luke Bell
To celebrate the release, Grimey’s New & Preloved Music will host a special in-store performance today at 5:00 p.m., featuring interpretations of Bell’s songs by Aaron Lee Tasjan, Jaime Wyatt, Joshua Hedley, Riley Downing, Gowa Gibbs, and Rachel Baiman, along with a special appearance and remarks from Carol Bell.
“This album captures Luke’s soul at its purest,” said Carol Bell. “He poured himself into these songs, and we’re honored to share them with the world.”
A Legacy Remembered
The King Is Back has already earned critical attention from major outlets. Rolling Stone published an extensive feature on Bell’s life and music, with writer Marissa R. Moss noting that the record “shows an incredibly gifted songwriter and vocalist with an empathetic touch, who often recognized the unease in his brain and used music to articulate it.”
In The Nashville Scene, Bobby Jean Sawyer praised the record’s range, calling it “a showcase of Bell’s spirit, featuring blue-collar anthems (‘Roofer’s Blues,’ ‘Irrigator’s Blues’), witty, Roger Miller-esque ditties like ‘Orangutang,’ and haunting tunes like ‘Black Crows.’”
Additional features have appeared in Holler, No Depression, Americana Highways, and Bell’s hometown paper, The Cody Enterprise.
Honoring Luke’s Spirit
Proceeds from The King Is Back will benefit The Luke Bell Memorial Affordable Counseling Program, a non-profit founded by Carol and Jane Bell to provide mental health support for residents of Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin. The program offers vouchers covering up to ten therapy sessions with a counselor of the participant’s choice.
