A joyous music party for a talent who's gone

Remembering Luke Bell with his mom Carol and Nashville friends

Nov 13, 2025

I met my friend Carol Bell the year after her husband died. We were at a big barn dance in Wyoming, a fundraiser for the regional hospital, and her son Luke Bell was headlining. I’d heard about Luke, this guy from Cody whose career in Nashville was on the rise.

Carol and I immediately clicked and became close. During those first months of friendship, we talked a lot about early grief and the stew it formed with anger, fear, and loneliness. And we talked about parenthood. I’d just had my first baby and was figuring out how to fit this new enormous love, and all its demands, into my sense of self.

It wasn’t long before Carol and I started talking more and more about Luke. He had his first psychotic break in 2016, and for the next several years, cycled through treatment, medications, homelessness, jail, and periods of fragile stability. He died in 2022 of fentanyl poisoning.

On this week’s episode, Carol and I talk about her son Luke — raising him, trying to help him when became became very sick, and honoring him now that he’s gone. Carol and Luke’s friends and colleagues in Nashville worked together to release a new collection of his songs, written and recorded when Luke was healthy. It’s called The King Is Back. (Proceeds benefit the Luke Bell Memorial Affordable Counseling Program in Wyoming.)

We loved making this episode at Death, Sex & Money, and I hope you’ll listen.

Doing It Up in Nashville!

Our episode about Luke Bell is told from the perspective of Luke’s mom. What you don’t hear is how he was loved and is remembered by his friends and community of musicians. I got to be in Nashville last weekend as Carol joined with his former manager, fellow touring musicians, industry people, and ex-girlfriends to celebrate the release of his new album at Grimey’s, the East Nashville record store.

(l-r) Carol doing a podcast interview with musician Riley Downing at East Nashville club Skinny Dennis, Carol and me with our dear friend Kelly and Alex of Thirty Tigers, Carol with a tank she should've bought, Anna + Carol + Kelly, boots and Elvis at a Nashville vintage store, Carol with musicians Rachel Baiman and Gowa Gibbs, a very DSM-y edition of Nashville Scene, Anna of Grimey's Record Store with musician Aaron Lee Tasjan, and a *hot* record choice.

At the release party at East Nashville record store Grimey’s, singer and writer Rachel Baiman sang Luke’s song “On Our Own” for us. It was arresting and made me pull up the lyrics to read along as I listened again later. Someone recommended I check out the remembrance Rachel wrote in the magazine No Depression right after Luke’s death in 2022. I suggest you give the whole thing a read, but here’s a part I keep thinking about.

In the past couple of days, I’ve been wondering why his death has hit me so hard. Aside from the fact that I had a lot of love for him, I think it is because I consider him one of my own. We were cut from the same cloth, chasing the same dream, battling the same mental demons. It’s hard to know that some people don’t make it through the chaos, they don’t emerge from the darkness or push through to some realm of stability.
Life with bipolar disorder means constantly pushing the boundaries of your ability to experience. Emotions run extremely hot, and existentialism is always available if you want to tap into it. Sometimes it leads you to a high because nothing matters; sometimes it leads you to a low because, again, nothing matters. I didn’t always like Luke, but I always understood him. His darkness was the same as mine, as was his manic joy. We saw the world the same way. We sought out misery just to feel the intensity of it, to be able to write and sing about it. His music was almost inarguable, a straight shot. Even if you didn’t enjoy it, you would always believe it.
There are certain people who come into your life and affect you disproportionately. I think Luke was that person for everyone that he encountered.

Rachel also writes the newsletter The Weekly Croissant where she shares work that’s inspiring her. Sometimes she gives them the title, “Art Hoe Roundup,” so yes, you should subscribe and follow if you don’t already.

I also appreciated reading the piece about Luke by Bobby Jean Sawyer in Nashville Scene:

J.P. Harris was one of the artists to mentor Bell during his time in Music City. Harris remembers Bell driving up to his house in his “beat-up, really ugly, white grandma Buick from the ’90s” with his pit bull Bill, who Harris described as “the sweetest dog and the most untrained motherfucker that I’d ever met.” Bell spent the night on Harris’ couch and would end up staying for nearly a month. Harris, who owns a carpentry business in Nashville, put Bell to work when the singer needed extra money.
“He didn’t know the dumb end of a hammer when I met him, but he could learn, and he was enthusiastic about working,” Harris says. “Something about the mix of his fearlessness and his charm and his work ethic just made me immediately want to take him under my wing. … The closest thing I’ve had to a little brother really was those good years with Luke.”

Being with Luke’s Nashville community was joyous and bittersweet. What a gift to witness, and to be reminded how many artists in that town speak in plain poetry that can break your heart.

Two other treats for you this week

I joined back up with Slate Money host Felix Salmon for our series about big feelings about money. This week, we talked about something that is coming for all of us, should we have the privilege of aging: the question of how to support ourselves in old age. We were joined by Felix’s actual financial advisor, and somehow, I think we had fun talking about retirement? Listen and see if you agree.

I also got to talk with Brian Reed, of S-Town and This American Life, about his new project that I am a big fan of, "Question Everything." It’s a podcast where Brian turns his curious and skeptical lens on journalism itself and asks what reporters and tech platforms could be doing differently to re-earn the public’s trust.

My conversation with Brian is exclusive to Slate Plus members, so if you’re not a member yet, please join up and support our work!

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