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Bell Witch: The Movie Various Artists
Reviewed by: B Hough 3/17/2006 12:00:00 AM


Various Artists: Bell Witch the Movie Penny Jar Records Hope River Entertainment www.HopeRiverEntertainment.com www.BellWitchmusic.com ©2005 Songs and singers: Jimbo Whaley performs Fly, The Dreams We Dream, Foundation, The Sentence and the Wayfarying Stranger. Valerie Smith performs Ole John Bell, Jacob Spence, and Wade in the Water. Becky Buller performs Blind Beggar. The Wells Family performs Make New Choices, Talk About Suffering. Jeanette Williams performs Blind Beggar, I Remember, Mountain Way of Life, and What You Gonna Do. Jeff and Vida Band perform Shady Grove, and Dead and Gone. A witch haunted the Bell family for over a hundred years. The apparitions and curse chased John Bell and his descendants in Robertson County and have been documented by many witnesses. The Tennessee legend has been made into a feature film complete with a 19 song soundtrack featuring five top bands. Jimbo Whaley, Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike, The Jeanette Williams Band, The Jeff and Vida Band, The Wells Family and Becky Buller all sing traditional songs and specially written for the movie songs that speak of love, faith and family. Valerie Smith’s voice has that wonderful lived in edge that brings to mind long suffering women of the mountain hollers. Her “Ol’ John Bell” and “Jacob Spence” are laced with Becky Buller’s haunting fiddle tones and the stories of the witch’s curse and the suffering of the condemned prisoner. Becky also performs a solo as the singing voice of Kate, the Bell Witch in “Leave Well Enough Alone.” Jeff Bell and Vida Wakeman give “Shady Grove” and “Dead and Gone” a gutsy, back to the roots performances that sound as if they’ve walked out of the past directly into the present. Jimbo Whaley has a voice reminiscent of Dan Tyminski with a heartfelt edge and he gives a sentimental rendering of the love song, “The Dreams We Dream,” and a salute to the mountain way of life in “The Foundation.” Jeanette Williams’ songs offer the hope of love in “I Remember” and charity and faith in “Blind Beggar.” The carefully crafted songs are full of deeper meaning and emotion and are set in musical settings with melodic banjo and sensitive fiddle. “Wayfaring Stranger,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Talk About Suffering” pull the family back to its religious roots as they struggle to survive and triumph. This may be the first time that bluegrass music has been used to tell the story of a ghost haunting, but the songs are exceptional performances on their own.		More Information About This CD

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