Evan Nicole Bell

Life and career Early life and education Bell was born in Texas and grew up in Columbia, Maryland. She is a graduate of Duke University.

In an interview with Baltimore magazine, Bell described being raised in a household filled with Motown, soul, gospel, and funk music, citing artists such as Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes, The Isley Brothers, Michael Jackson, The Bar-Kays, and Teena Marie as formative influences.

She began playing acoustic and classical guitar at age 13 and took up electric guitar at age 21, when she was gifted an Epiphone Les Paul by her mother.

Career 2021–2023: Online presence In August 2021, Bell uploaded a video of herself covering "Crosscut Saw" by Albert King to YouTube and Facebook to participate in Play Music on the Porch Day. One year later, in July 2022, the video was shared by a Sweden-based blues account, where it received over 250,000 views, increasing Bell's Twitter following from 12 to 10,000. She performed her original music and covers of songs by Koko Taylor and Tracy Chapman. Her performance was one of six chosen from hundreds across the nation to be featured on the front page of NPR Music.

In January 2025, Bell released her debut album, Shades of Blue. Todd Snider praised the album, stating "I got this album a week ago and have not stopped playing it. It’s like Prince meets Lightnin' Hopkins."

In 2025, Bell co-wrote and performed on the track “Feel Me Better” with G. Love & Special Sauce, providing vocals and electric guitar. The song was released as the lead single from the group’s album Ode to R.L., a tribute to blues musician R.L. Boyce.

Music style and influences In a call for papers on Langston Hughes’s Blues Vision in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, scholar Tony Bolden included Bell among “contemporary artists exemplifying salient principles and values characteristic of blues music,” alongside Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Gary Clark Jr., Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, and KIRBY.

Bell is a mezzo-soprano. She has cited Koko Taylor as musical influences.

Discography Albums Shades of Blue (2025) EPs Runaway Girl (2024)