North Buncombe – Early Rock-n-Roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, 87, died on October 28th of this year. Most of you probably already know that, but what you may not know is Lewis’s connection with North Buncombe in the form of one of his band members.
Eddie DeBruhl of North Buncombe played bass for Lewis, nicknamed “The Killer,” for about four years (1969–1973) and on five of Lewis’s albums. Lewis would gain national attention as one of the pioneers of rock music in the 1950s with such hits as “Great Balls of Fire,” “Whole Lot of Shaking Going On,” “Breathless,” and more.
DeBruhl, 72, now lives about a mile from where he was born in 1950. He grew up in the northern part of the county, where he lives with his wife, Sherry. Eddie suffers from the effects of a stroke he had seven years ago.
Eddie’s family was musical, and that’s how he got his start playing. “His mom was a killer piano player,” says Sherry. “His dad and mom had a little gospel group that traveled around and made music. He has a brother who is one of the finest banjo players I’ve ever known.”
Eddie’s mom was a real encourager of his music. “No matter how bad it sounded, his mom would say, ‘That’s great, honey, do it again,'” explained Sherry.
Stories from the Road with Lewis
DeBruhl was only 18 or 19 years old when he joined the band. Lewis was on the road and had just fired his bass player. DeBruhl was recommended to Lewis to fill in and play for him when he came to perform at the Asheville Municipal Auditorium in 1969.
About halfway through the concert, Lewis said to the audience about DeBruhl that he was going to take this man on the road if he wanted to go. DeBruhl went home after the concert, packed a bag, and told his parents he was going on the road with Jerry Lee Lewis. His dad took him back to the bus to meet the band, and he started his rock-n-roll adventure.
One story related to the Tribune was about Jerry Lee Lewis’s only gospel album, where he was flying a black gospel choir and the band to Los Vegas when the plane’s engine caught on fire and the pilot had to set it down in the middle of the night in Mississippi with the help of volunteer firefighters who showed their lights on the runway so they could land.
“You’ve never seen so many people kiss the ground in your life. This whole choir was out praising the Lord.” While they fixed the plane, only Eddie and Black Mountain’s world-renowned guitarist Charles E. “Buddy” Church Jr., whom Eddie had recommended to Lewis when Lewis fired his guitar player, got back on the plane and flew on to Vegas. The rest elected to be bused on to their destination.
A similar incident happened later on a plane owned by Lewis when Eddie had taken Zanix to help him with the flight by putting him to sleep. He woke up, looked out the window, and noticed the plane was on fire. He said, “Far out, man, the plane’s on fire.” Fortunately, they landed the plane without incident. Sherry asked Buddy if he was as calm about the situation. Buddy told her, “Sherry, if the plane would have gone down, my ass was so puckered, it would still be stuck to that seat.” Lewis sold the plane. It was bought by a group called Lynard Skynard.
When Lewis came to then-North Buncombe High School (now the middle school) to play. Lewis had had a little too much to drink. Eddie was upset, as this was his hometown and he had come to play. It took more than an hour to sober up Lewis enough for him to go on stage. However, afterward, Lewis came to the DeBruhl home and played privately for Eddie’s family. One of the songs he sang and played was the gospel song “Father Alone.” It was captured on a reel-to-reel recorder, and Eddie has asked that it be played at his funeral when he passes.
Another tale from the road: Jerry was playing the Astrodome, and what some called Lewis’s bodyguard, and others called Jerry’s pill getter was in the room with the band when a knock came at the door. It was a kid wanting Lewis’s autograph. The guy told the kid to beat it and closed the door. A few minutes later, the knock came again. The same kid asked for Lewis’ autograph. Again, the guy told him to beat it. It happened a third time, and this time the guy grabbed a chair and started chasing the kid down the hall, and screams could be heard trailing off in the distance.
Then something changed, and the screams could be heard coming back, but this time the kid had the chair and the bodyguard was running. Lewis finally told the guy to let the kid in to get an autograph.
DeBruhl was with Jerry Lee when Jerry’s son died. He went to Lewis’s mother’s funeral. He was there when Lewis ruined a grand piano that had been borrowed to play a concert. Lewis jumped up and started tap dancing on the top of the piano. It was so badly damaged that it had to be replaced. “I don’t think Lewis paid for that either.”
According to Sherry, in Lewis’s autobiography, “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,” Eddie was the only one of his band members to make it into the book by name. The quote comes on page 361. They were playing at a church service in Memphis, and Lewis introduced his band. Edward DeBruhl: “He’s a good boy, a good Christian-minded boy. Me and him have set around the motel room many nights playing religious records and crying”.
After Jerry Lee Lewis
In 1973, DeBruhl was tired of the road and wanted to settle down, so he left the band. He saw this lovely lady riding her quarter horse down the road one day. He asked his friends if they knew who she was, and they replied, “no.” In reality, she was their sister, Sherry Silvers. Sherry was only 14 at the time.
After concealing their relationship with Sherry for as long as they could, the friends finally revealed who Sherry was. At the time, Eddie was 22. With her parent’s permission, the two were allowed to date, but only if the dates were escorted by one of her brothers. “The only reason they let me around him was because one of my brothers was always around.” They were married a year later, when she was 15 and he was 23. By then, Eddie was ready to go back on the road; “he just didn’t want to go alone,” said Sherry. Next year will be the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary.
After their marriage, the couple moved back to Nashville, where Eddie played with Stella Parton, Dolly Parton’s sister, for a couple of years. Then he traveled with fiddler Vassar Clemons and country and bluegrass star Marty Stuart, doing one album with them.
Sherry recounts her and Eddie and their grandkids going to see a Flat Rock Playhouse performance where a man was playing Jerry Lee Lewis. Halfway through the show, they recognized Eddie, and he stood up. “He stands up and this lady at the end of the row, I’ll never forget it,” recalls Sherry, “She looked at Eddie, and she said, ‘I’m pretty sure I threw my panties at you years ago.!'”
After returning to Buncombe, Eddie and Sherry started a family. Eddie sold cars for a living, first with Apple Tree and then in his own wholesale business until he had his stroke. During that time, he played with a three-piece rock-n-roll band that played locally for about 18 years.
DeBruhl’s other connections
Anyone who has lived in Buncombe County for a while will recognize the DeBruhl family name, and yes, Eddie is part of that family. Family member Otto DeBruhl was Buncombe County Register of Deeds for years, and Claude DeBruhl was the state representative that helped establish Woodfin as a town back in 1970.
Graduates of North Buncombe High School will recognize Eddie’s uncle, James DeBruhl, if only by name, as the high school’s theater is named for him. One of the stories told during the interview for this article was that James managed to once defuse a dangerous situation by himself at the Hideaway Club, a music bar in Asheville that sits just outside of the Tunnel Road side of the tunnel.
Eddie was there playing bass when a patron drew a shotgun and started waving it around. Eddie hit the floor behind the stage along with the rest of the band, not knowing if and when the man might pull the trigger. James walked up to the man, telling him that he did not want to do that and asking what his mother would think. He asked the man to give him the gun, which he did, defusing the crisis.
Asked if he considers himself a lucky person, Eddie said, “I don’t know.” Sherry interjected, “I think he’s been blessed. I think we’ve both been blessed.”