ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 13, 2011
I just learned via a tweet from guitar great Joe Bonamassa that one of the true heroes of the Texas blues scene, Doyle Bramhall, passed away today at his home in Alpine, Texas. Initial reports say that Bramhall–the father of Eric Clapton guitarist Doyle Bramhall II–died as a result of complications from pneumonia. He was 62.
Although he was a singer-songwriter and drummer with three solo albums to his name, Bramhall is best known for cowriting a number of Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes, including the smoldering “Dirty Pool”, off Vaughan’s 1983 debut, Texas Flood.
Bramhall also wrote two songs on Vaughan’s 1985 Soul to Soul album and cowrote another four on his ’89 release, In Step, including the opening track “The House is Rockin’ “.
Bramhall played in bands with both SRV (the Nightcrawlers) and his older brother Jimmie Vaughan (the Chessmen), and cowrote three songs on the brothers’ 1990 collaboration, Family Style.
But the Vaughan song that Bramhall is probably most admired for is the uplifting “Life By the Drop”, which appeared on Vaughan’s posthumous 1991 release, The Sky is Crying.
Bramhall is survived by his wife, Barbara Logan–who cowrote “Life By the Drop”–his daughter Georgia, and his son Doyle.