February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
“For about a year afterward we had an empty chair for him on stage at our concerts,” the Chieftains’ leader and founding member Paddy Moloney recently said by phone from Naples, Fla. “Derek believed in reincarnation, so maybe he’s keeping an eye on us. I still feel he’s around.”
The last three Chieftains’ projects to feature Bell were the Grammy-nominated “Down the Old Plank Road/The Nashville Sessions” CD in 2002, the “Down the Old Plank Road/The Nashville Sessions in Concert” DVD in 2003, and the “Further Down the Old Plank Road” CD in 2003.
During a 10-day stretch in Nashville in April and May 2002, “we recorded 22 tracks that wound up on the two ‘Down the Old Plank Road’ albums,” Moloney said. “When we finished in May, Derek went to a local eye and ear hospital, and he had his eyes put right. For the first time in his life, he had 20-20 vision. He was delighted.”
Minor surgery and a series of physical checkups at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix a few months later produced a relative clean bill of health for Bell, who was nevertheless advised to adopt a sensible diet, exercise more, and take better care of himself. He died in his Phoenix hotel room after packing his bag to return to Ireland.
“I always intended to do a tribute concert for Derek, and I invited a lot of friends and people he was associated with or the band was associated with,” said Moloney. “I did have Van Morrison at one of the shows, but, unfortunately, the track didn’t turn out the way we wanted. Van and Derek were from Belfast and became good friends.”
The Chieftains’ new album, “Live From Dublin: A Tribute to Derek Bell” (RCA Victor), was culled from performances at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre and National Concert Hall. Performing with the Chieftains’ Matt Molloy, Se_n Keane, Kevin Conneff, and Paddy Moloney, who is the only original member still in the band, were former Dubliners’ lead singer Ronnie Drew, U.S. country vocalist Alison Moorer, Irish choral group An_na, dancing brothers Jon and Nathan Pilatzke from Ottawa Valley, Canada, Galician multi-instrumentalist brothers Carlos and Xurxo N_