Texas Bluesman Earl Gilliam, R.I.P.



The Houston Chronicle newspaper is reporting that blues pianist Earl Gilliam passed away on Wednesday, October 20, 2011 from advanced lung disease. Gilliam was 81 years old.

An integral part of the long-thriving Houston, Texas blues scene for almost 50 years, Gilliam was a self-taught pianist. Born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1930, Gilliam moved to New Waverly, Texas as a child. A naturally gifted musician, Gilliam could hear a song a couple of times and nail it, a quality that led to an offer to tour with Texas blues legend Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown when Gilliam was just 17, an offer his mother denied due to his young age.

Over the years, Gilliam would become known as Houston's premiere blues pianist, and he performed alongside such greats as Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert King, Albert Collins, and Joe "Guitar" Hughes, among many others. Gilliam also lead his own band, performing frequently in Houston clubs throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and he was still performing after suffering a collapsed lung in 2008. Sadly, Gilliam only released one album under his own name, 2005's Texas Doghouse Blues.

In Houston, Gilliam is best known for the weekly blues jams he hosted at his home, which the pianist dubbed the "Doghouse." The weekly event would feature blues music and food, and cooking would start on Saturday night to provide for Sunday night's guests. Donations were accepted so that those who couldn't afford it could still eat. "It's a different crowd every time, some I know, some I don't," Gilliam is quoted as saying in the Chronicle. "Somebody's gotta eat all that food: ribs, chicken, mustard greens. If you don't cook enough, you get a crowd problem. So I make sure everybody's full before they leave."

Gilliam is survived by his wife and ten children, and will be missed by blues fans in Houston and around the world as one of the city's foremost musical ambassadors.
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Remi