July 25, 2023 | Andrew Gilbert 

Located in a low-slung beige and rust-brown building several yards from Mission Street’s overcrossing of Interstate 280, the Mission YMCA isn’t an obvious place to go looking for Cajun music. But on a recent weekday, some three dozen seniors gathered for lunch while the Creole Belles delivered a set of waltzes, blues, zydeco, and classic Cajun numbers like “Blues à Bébé” by the Carrière Brothers. As a few Chinese women got up to dance, guitarist Karen Leigh broke into a wide grin.

Our dear friend Dix Bruce passed away unexpectedly on February 1, 2023.

I am full of fond memories of Dix Bruce. I grew to appreciate the depth of this wonderful person through years of side by side experience, we had our music duo beginning in 1994.

While on tour you learn a lot about a person, you also learn if they are a good person. A lot of what I learned about Dix was on those tours. He was a dedicated husband and father. He would reminisce about his wife Kathi and daughter Gennie and how important were to him, what fun he had being a dad, great stories. He would talk about how Kathi was such a dedicated mother. He truly loved that part of his life the most.

January 17, 2023 | Dave Berry

Jim Nunally is a California-based musician’s musician, not so widely known despite having played extensively with many great California artists, including both the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience and John Reischman and the Jaybirds. He’s a sought-after producer, and nowadays spends most of his off time in the Nell & Jim Band, featuring duets with his musical mate, Nell Robinson. He’s also started his own line of Banjo Boy Coffee. There’s so much more to this talented picker, so read on…

Part of the 5-piece “Nell and Jim Band” , Californian based musician Nell Robinson is an artist we have yet to feature here at Belles and Gals. With the band’s latest album “Western Sun” due for release on Friday, and Nell having a very interesting story being a later-in-life musician, what better time to tell you a bit more about her journey so far?