Eddie Gill keeping up his chops during treatment
Popular traditional bluegrass vocalist Eddie Gill has been noticeable by his absence from the bluegrass scene since late summer of last year. Anyone seeing Big Country Bluegrass live on stage is especially aware that he is nowhere to be found.
Eddie has been quite sick, being treated for leukemia since a surprise diagnosis back in the fall of 2025, followed by hospitalization and successive treatment that has required his full attention even since. But he says that he is now doing much better, with a very promising prognosis that suggests that he will be back with the band by later this month.
When we caught up with Eddie last week, he was in excellent spirits, feeling confident that the treatment he’s been receiving at VCU in Richmond, VA was having the desired effect.
“I’m feeling good. I went to my doctor in Richmond recently, and my numbers are good. My hemoglobin was in the low normal range; white blood cells, platelets were looking good.
I’m getting chemo at home now. It comes in a seven-day bag. This is the fourth treatment, and my main doctor said that there should only be four doses.”
Known for his very high and extra lonesome mountain-style singing voice, Gill has spent the past 14 years with Big Country Bluegrass. He had previously worked with Travers Chandler & Avery County, where bluegrass lovers first noticed his special talent, and with his own group, Eddie Gill & The Grassmasters.
Normally a very healthy individual, Gill described how this most unwelcome diagnosis was reached.
“It was the 11th of August last year. I didn’t feel right, and I went in to see the doctor; thought it was a bad sinus infection. I went to Urgent Care near home in Chase City, and they told me to take something. It was getting better, but not completely better.
So I went to South Boston Hospital and a nurse noticed that my hemoglobin was at 5.4%, so they checked and it had dropped a lot since they took it at Chase City.
They said we need get you to Richmond and get you checked. They transported me on October 11 and said they thought I had leukemia. I was in the hospital at VCU for 40 days, and got five rounds of chemo there. Then they said I might qualify for home care and the bags of chemo, and only see them once a month.
Since then it’s been over 100 days and nights in the hospital. I had to go for a day and a half each time I got chemo before I could take it at home.”
There have been ups and downs, especially with one dose of chemo that was too strong, and forced Eddie into rehab for a while. But he now has a home health nurse who visits him daily to help with anything that might pop up.
With the spring weather, he tries to get out and walk every day.
“I’m building up my strength by walking with a rollator. I can get around the house with it, but I can walk a little bit without it.
I feel good, I’m eating good, eating food that I like.
My fingers are pretty good, but a couple of them have a half-numbness to them. Feels like there’s something inside them.
I’ve been playing the guitar, and singing some, hoping to join the band at Graves Mountain. We’re supposed to have a get-together about a week before.”
Following the Graves Mountain show on May 30, Gill heads back to the hospital for a bone marrow biopsy through a spinal tap on June 2. If all looks good his treatment will go into maintenance.
“I’m hoping that I will go into the maintenance phase after this bag, which means that I only have to go to see my doctor in Richmond once a month instead of once a week. Then I won’t be taking any chemo at all. After about a year, I won’t have to go back for a blood check but every three months, and a spinal tap every six months.
I’ve been in remission officially since November of last year. I want to be shed of this, and get back to playing music.”
That’s what Eddie Gill has been doing since he was five years old, when he started traveling with his father who sang bluegrass and gospel music.
So how does one get leukemia, or blood cancer?
“Nobody in my family has ever had any kind of cancer or leukemia, but the doctor sat down and told me that this is not genetic, and it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything to make this happen to you.
Our bass player, Tony King, had leukemia, and he’s been cancer-free for about two years. His was actually worse than mine, and he had to have a stem cell transplant.”
For now, all Eddie cares about is putting this whole experience behind him, and returning to where he’s most comfortable.
“I can’t wait to be back on stage. I’m tired of sitting around the house!
And I hope to get back in the studio sometime soon!”
Many congratulations to Eddie Gill for enduring the treatment, and beating leukemia! We also can’t wait to see and hear him again with Big Country Bluegrass.
