Ian Bell (born 1954) is a Canadian folk musician, composer, and singer-songwriter who has been active in the Canadian folk music scene since the 1970s. With Anne Lederman, he was part of the seminal Canadian folk group Muddy York. He has been the leader of The Dawnbreakers and Professor Chalaupka's Celebrated Singing School. Bell has performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and the Mariposa Folk Festival, among others. He has contributed to the development and preservation of Canadian folk music for more than twenty-five years. He sings both old songs and his own original compositions. His music has a Celtic flavour. He is a versatile musician who plays several instruments.
Bell spent most of his time as a part-time musician, also working in museums, the last being curator of the Port Dover Harbour Museum on Lake Erie. He left the museum in 2013 and has been working in music and art since.
Early life
Bell was born in Simcoe, Ontario, grew up in Waterford, and lives now in Paris, Ontario. Some of his original songs evoke the landscape and history of southwestern Ontario.
Career
Bell's career includes composing and playing instrumental music, singing, songwriting, storytelling, artist in residence, director of music festivals, and working as a freelance broadcaster.
His original songs have many themes: blacksmiths, bikers, Charles Atlas, woolly mammoths, fishermen, and love. His performances include his own stories: "funny, touching, unlikely, mostly true, and always entertaining." Venues range from Roy Thomson Hall to barns and from the Glenn Gould Studio to rural church basements and art galleries.
Performance
In 1978, Ian Bell, Kate Murphy, and Anne Lederman joined up to form Muddy York, to play the traditional songs and dance music of Canada, especially Ontario. The group's name, Muddy York, refers to an old epithet for Toronto. (See Name of Toronto.) They played in venues from church basements to barn dances to festivals, in Ontario and the western provinces. In 1982 Kate Murphy left the group but Bell and Lederman continued. They became well known and played at Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC.
Bell has performed at the Edmonton Folk Festival (AB) and the Mariposa Folk Festival (ON) as well as festivals in Ottawa ON, Winnipeg MB, Owen Sound ON, Lunenberg NS, Montmagny, and Yellowknife NWT.
Bell was Folk Artist in Residence for 1993 at Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener ON.
Recent performance history
In 2004 Bell performed in the "Roots of American Music" Festival at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
In July 2005, Bell and Anne Lederman travelled to Estonia to perform at the Viljandi Folk Festival. Also in 2005, he told the story of the youth and growth of Canadian artist Tom Thomson through music. This was in conjunction with a special exhibit about Thomson. The Durham West Arts Centre describes him as a noted musicologist, historian, and performer.
In March, 2011, Muddy York and the O'Schraves played a benefit concert to raise money for the Matthews Memorial Hospital Association to hire a doctor for the hospital in the central Algoma district, on the north shore of Lake Huron. Muddy York also appeared in Sault Ste. Marie at an Algoma Traditional Music concert with Jeff Beck of the Cowboy Junkies and the O'Schraves. They have also worked at the Algoma Traditional Music Camp as both performers and teachers.
Bell appeared on dozens of recordings as a sideman as well as several under his own name. He plays guitar, button accordion, harmonica, mandolin, smallpipes, and fiddle. Bell still plays regularly for old-time square and contra dances across Southern Ontario. On these occasions, two or more musicians provide live music for the dancers.
Bell has played music with these performers: Wade Hemsworth Anne Lederman Dave Zdriluk Geoff Somers Tom Leighton David Woodhead Denis Rondeau Chris Schiller John Mayberry Ian Robb The Friends of Fiddler's Green Enoch Kent The Allison Lupton Band, Patio Dave & The Lanterns The Bilge Rats The Dawnbreakers: Kate Murphy, Brian Pickell & Geoff Somers
Bell's accompanists and bandmates have included these performers: Oliver Schroer – violin David Travers-Smith – trumpet, producer Geoff Somers – fiddle, mandolin Anne Lederman – fiddle, piano Brian Pickell – guitar, mandolin Tom Leighton – piano James Gordon – singer, guitarist
The CD My Pious Friends & Drunken Companions was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award—"Traditional Singer of The Year".