Lloyd Bell (2)

American bluegrass and rockabilly bassist and vocalist. Born: January 27, 1929 in Etowah, North Carolina. Died: June 13, 2014. Bother of singer Bonnie Lou (2) and brother-in-law of Buster Moore. Knew him as Ding Dong Bell. In 1945, he was working at radio station WROL in Knoxville, Tennessee as part of the group known as The Dixie Pardners. In the 1930s, he was part of the kiddie radio act The Bell Children in North Carolina. In May 1947, Buster Moore and His Dixie Partners were at WPTF in Raleigh, North Carolina. The group then included Buster, Bonnie Lou, Carl Butler, Lloyd and Fiddling Art. The group was working at WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1948, where they appeared regularly on the mid-day show The Merry-Go-Round as well as the Saturday night show, The Tennessee Barn Dance. Billboard said they had come from WPTF in 1947. The group then consisted of Buster (banjo and mandolin), Bonnie Lou (guitar), Lloyd (guitar) and Willie G. Brewster (fiddle). In late 1949, Lloyd was working with guitar-vocalist Shorty Hickson and had joined the Smokey Mountaineers group at WGAC in Augusta, Georgia. He was often a sideman guitarist who later worked and recorded with bluegrass star Carl Story during at least 1959 and 1960 (along with his sister and brother-in-law).