A singer and multi-instrumentalist with the Mekons, Bell has also released three well-received solo recordings with the Chicago-based alternative country label, Bloodshot Records: The Return of Rico Bell (1995), Dark Side of the Mersey (1999) and Been a Long Time (2002).
Rosie Flores covered the song on her 2009 album Girl Of The Century recorded with The Pine Valley Cosmonauts released on Bloodshot Records.
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Bloodshot Records released the band's next album, Zoysia, recorded in Ardent Studios in Memphis with producer Jeff Powell, in June 2006.
In August 2007 he released an album, The Library Book of the World, on Chicago's Bloodshot Records label (with fellow punk-era stalwart Jon Langford's group The Pine Valley Cosmonauts as his backing band).