0/4/2009 2:00 PM at BLUES BENEFIT FOR EARL & CARRIE JEAN @ The Big Easy
5731 Kirby, Houston, Texas 77005
Cost: $5
An extraordinary line-up of local Blues legends and friends to benefit
Earl and Carrie Jean, including Texas Johnny Brown, Trudy Lynn and I.J.
Gosey. The music starts at 2pm and goes ’til 7pm. Fantastic raffle
items, BBQ, good times! Come on down!
Earl Gilliam Legendary Blues Musician
Lauded as the "best Blues organist alive”,
79-year old Texas Bluesman Earl Gilliam has been smokin’ the house with
his original Gulf Coast Blues sound for the past 60 years. A living
legend of Houston's vital and historic Blues scene of the 40's and
50's, Earl has played both out front with his own band and as a sideman
with some of the best, including: Sam Lightnin' Hopkins, Clarence
Gatemouth Brown, Albert Collins, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Joe Guitar
Hughes, T-Bone Walker, Little Joe Washington and - in the really early days - with Goree Carter, Big Joe Turner, Grady Gaines, Nappy Brown, Roy Brown, Jerry Butler, Percy Mayfield, Hop Wilson, Lester Williams and many others. And then there were the ladies: Earl has graced the stage with such luminous Blueswomen as Big Mama Thornton, Luvenia Lewis, Lavelle White and Miss Trudy Lynn.
In 1955, Earl was invited to record his own music with Lucian Davis on Sarg Records,
Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm’s first label. There were only two Black
artists on that label – Earl and saxophonist O.S. Grant. He also
recorded on Ivory Lee Semien’s historic label Ivory Records.
Earl wrote and recorded what today are considered classic Blues tunes:
“Wrong Doin’ Woman”, “Don’t Make Me Late Baby”, “Nobody’s Blues”, “Just
You and I”, “Petite Baby” and more.
Earl is a well-respected
band leader who held forth at such historic Houston Blues haunts as The
Hamilton Inn, Shady's Playhouse and the Club Matinee's famed monthly
talent shows – which blew in such young promising talent as Little Richard and Bobby Blue Bland. Earl was one of very few musicians who could play with Lightnin' Hopkins
because of Hopkins' unique sense of timing. In the 60's and 70's, they
occasionally played as a duo in the region. Earl not only plays a mean
organ and piano, but he also squeezed on a 50 lb. accordion in Clifton Chenier's band.
If you talk to Earl long enough and over a period of time, he'll drop
some of the best authentic regional Blues history on you. He's the real
deal!
These days, Earl tours on occasion and plays regularly close to home. His favorite gigs are at the Houston blues joint The Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club.