OXFORD – Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m., 6 On The Square (6OTS) is proud to present Tennessee singer-songwriter, Nathan Bell. Bell is known for his straight forward yet poetic lyrics and expert musicianship, and like a modern day troubadour, his stories are of everyman, sung with honesty and empathy. Though his subjects are often dark and troubled, Bell never leaves the listener without “a crack,” just as Leonard Cohen described, “…how the light gets in.”

Son of famed poet-laureate of Iowa, Marvin Bell, Nathan’s early years were filled with the comings and goings of literary giants such as Kurt Vonnegut and Studs Terkel but, instead of picking up a pen, he picked up a guitar. “I learned to play by listening to blues greats Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGee. I learned to write lyrics by reading Jack London, William Carlos Williams, and Frank Herbert.”

Bell walked away from a successful career in the music business in 1993 to raise his family. After twelve years, he returned with his CD, “Black Crow Blue,” released in 2011. His latest album, “Blood Like a River,” took less than a month to make and Nathan wrote, played, sang, recorded and mixed it all himself. It came out in January of this year, and it has topped Folk/Roots charts in the U.S. and in Europe.