<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We always heard bass player Mike arrive at our Sledgehammer rehearsals before we saw him. \u00a0Our basement on Summit Street was exposed on the east side of our one story home making that side of our house two stories. \u00a0The driveway dipped down from the street to the garage on the lower level that was bordered by the creek that separates the city of Marquette from the township of Trowbridge Park. \u00a0In fact, the area where we set up the band equipment was originally a one car stall in the basement before my folks decided to put up a detached two car garage at the north end of the house. \u00a0They converted the old basement parking spot into a recreation room replete with a fireplace and add-on sauna. Nine times out of ten, we heard ZZ Top blasting inside of Mike\u2019s van as he wheeled into the driveway before band practice. \u00a0Occasionally we would hear something by the Grateful Dead, but we heard enough ZZ Top tunes for us to suggest to Mike that perhaps he should write out one or two for us to learn. Mike took the hint and dutifully arrived with <\/span>Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers<\/span><\/i> worked up and once it showed up on our set list, there were few songs we played at frat parties that got a better reaction (hmmm, I wonder why?). \u00a0As the band thundered along, Mike would take the Billy Gibbons\u2019 verses and I sang the Dusty Hill answering verses. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Along the way, I picked up ZZ\u2019s <\/span>Fandango<\/span><\/i> album and thought it would have been fun to learn <\/span>Tush<\/span><\/i>, but that was after we disbanded in the summer of 1975. \u00a0ZZ Top didn\u2019t occupy my thoughts much after that until they became a staple of MTV where their iconic beard \/ dark shades look (coupled with their red hot ZZ Top roadster and a cast of young ladies along for the ride) made them hard to miss. \u00a0Had we told Mike back in 1974 that ZZ Top would be selling top forty records (remember, this was pre-MTV) and become household a name in the last twenty years of the millennium, he would have mustered one of his mock, \u2018I am horrified that you said that\u2019 looks that he used to pull out when making a point (a facial expression he used quite often). \u00a0Billy, Dusty, and drummer Frank Beard sold a lot of records, but were still \u2018that little old band from Texas\u2019 during their prime MTV days. They may have utilized synthesizers on their biggest MTV hits, but in their live shows they were still a Texas boogie band. The raw sounds Billy Gibbons would pull out of his signature Les Paul, Pearly Gates (and the myriad of matching axes employed by Billy and Dusty) gave their music an unmistakable signature sound. \u00a0Beardless drummer Beard (yes, it seems ironic) is a solid a time keeper who isn\u2019t overly flashy, but he does fill out the trio\u2019s sound a lot (somewhat of a necessity in a three piece band as I learned while playing in two different trios). <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As ZZ Top\u2019s \u00a050th Anniversary approached, Billy took an unexpected detour when he put together a solo project called <\/span>Perfectamundo <\/span><\/i>in 2017. \u00a0Many wondered why it took so long for Gibbons to put out a solo album, but it wasn\u2019t like he had a lot of spare time on his hands. \u00a0When he finally decided to record with his BFGs line up (the name is a tip of the hat to his initials), he threw everyone a curve ball by recording an album heavy with a Latin vibe in the vein of Tito Puente. \u00a0Gibbons made the conscious effort to push the guitars to the back on <\/span>Perfectamundo<\/span><\/i> with more emphasis on the percussion. \u00a0As he told Don Wilcock in <\/span>Blues Blast Magazine<\/span><\/i> in March of 2019, \u201cThe Cubano thing we came up with included enough bits with that ZZ Top approach to round up [and make] <\/span>Perfectamundo<\/span><\/i> a success.\u201d \u00a0It was an unexpected move but it worked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Word leaked out soon after <\/span>Perfectamundo <\/span><\/i>was released that Gibbons was already working on a second solo release. \u00a0He assured fans that ZZ Top was hard at work planning their 50th Anniversary celebration, but the fun he had making his first solo record inspired him to do another. \u00a0Everyone kind of assumed that the BFGs would dig further into the Latin genre but Billy threw them a change-up this time when he released <\/span>The Big Bad Blues <\/span><\/i>in 2018. \u00a0<\/span>BBBs<\/span><\/i> features six Gibbons originals, one track written by his wife Gilly Stillwater (<\/span>Missin\u2019 Yo\u2019 Kissin\u2019<\/span><\/i>), and four blues covers (two by McKinley Morganfield (aka: \u00a0Muddy Waters), one by Jerome Green and<\/span><\/p>\n one by Elias McDaniel (perhaps better known as Bo Diddley). \u00a0Touring after the <\/span>Perfectamundo<\/span><\/i> album was released was a little more complicated because it required a larger band to recreate the Cubano vibe of that record. \u00a0For <\/span>Big Bad Blues<\/span><\/i>, Gibbons was able to strip the band down to drummer Matt Sorum (Guns \u2018N\u2019 Roses, Hollywood Vampires), and guitarist Elwood Francis. \u00a0Recording sessions for <\/span>BBBs<\/span><\/i> had also included drummer Greg Morrow (Joe Bonamassa), harmonica legend James Harman, bassist Joe Hardy and keyboardist Mike Flanigin. \u00a0It is a testament to Gibbons guitar style that they could translate the songs live with only three pieces (and no bass guitar).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By now, you might be wondering where the <\/span>Billy Zen<\/span><\/i> title of this FTV fits in. \u00a0Billy Gibbons was raised in a fertile Houston music scene where he was exposed to many of the blues greats like Bobby Bland, B.B.King, Lightnin\u2019 Hopkins and Jimmy Reed. \u00a0As Billy told Don Wilcocks, \u201cWhen you hear these guys, you know they were advanced, almost other worldly.\u201d The reverence Gibbons has for the blues makes him a voice for those who paved the way for ZZ Top but were not nearly as commercially successful as ZZT were. \u00a0While some view ZZ Tops\u2019 success as \u2018ripping off the early blues guys\u2019 (similar to Pat Boone making a career by recording black artist\u2019s music for the white radio market), it is clear that they have used their career to expand the audience for the old guard. BFG speaks in riddles at times as he attempts to portray the almost mystical way the old blues guy\u2019s methods have infiltrated his life and music. \u00a0To me, Gibbons sounds like a Zen Master of the Blues. Following are some examples of BFG\u2019s statements that I now refer to as the \u2018Tao of Billy Zen\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Discussing the \u2018ZZ Top\u2019 look that evolved in their early days, Gibbons describes it, \u201cas if we stepped out of the pages of some strange spin-off of the Katzenjammer Kids.\u201d \u00a0As far as ZZ Top \u2018stealing\u2019 black music, BFG explains that their version of the blues comes from carefully studying the old masters: \u201cRelax and take time to decipher the elements that make a certain delivery exceptional. \u00a0The element of flow is key to finding one\u2019s way. Sometimes, it\u2019s the empty spaces between the phrases that are as mesmerizing as anything else.\u201d Gibbons calls the old blues masters \u2018geniuses\u2019 for what they created. \u201cLet\u2019s take Bo Diddley\u2019s <\/span>Crackin\u2019 Up <\/span><\/i>included on <\/span>The Big Bad Blues <\/span><\/i>album,\u201d he says, \u201cThat up-side down and backwards guitar intro seems simple – until attempting to reproduce it – and then it becomes an analytical challenge to delve into what Bo might of had in mind. \u00a0Delivering that figure was the definative science experiment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Gibbons credits artists like Lightin\u2019 Hopkins and Bo Diddley for creating solely original music without following a \u2018how to\u2019 manual, or for that matter, without using predictable guitar scales: \u00a0\u201c[Lightnin\u2019] and Bo were free from the constraints of accepted norms, yet everything they did was accepted! They invented what they did out of thin air. That\u2019s a reflection that they reserved an open mind and a vivid imagination. \u00a0There\u2019s not necessarily any particular \u2018right way\u2019… Sometimes a so-called \u2018wrong way\u2019 is so, so right.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To explain the switch up in style from <\/span>Perfectamundo<\/span><\/i> to the <\/span>BBBs<\/span><\/i>, Gibbons\u2019 press release said, \u201cWe successfully made our way through those uncharted waters with the Cubano flavor of <\/span>Perfectamundo <\/span><\/i>and completed the journey. \u00a0The shift back to the blues (in <\/span>The Big Bad Blues)<\/span><\/i> is a natural. \u00a0It\u2019s something that our followers can enjoy with the satisfaction of experiencing the roots tradition, and at the same time, feeling the richness of stretching the art form. \u00a0There\u2019s a certain similar element of spontaneity recording outside the (very loose) confines of the group, yet the song selection with <\/span>The Big Bad Blues<\/span><\/i> band is far more out of left field than ZZ Top.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When asked a question about a guitarist\u2019s need to use effects pedals and other gadgets, Billy\u2019s answer found him straddling the fence between those who prefer a simple \u2018guitar to amp\u2019 signal path vs those who travel with multiple effects chained to their guitar: \u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re more accomplices toward creating interest in the sonic spectrum . . . The vast range of effects demands a genuine evaluation of what works within the frame of expression.\u201d He did give credit to, \u201cOne dramatic entry into the field of effective devices – a wild guitar pickup known as \u2018The Little Thunder.\u2019 \u00a0That\u2019s the singular effect which supported the outing with <\/span>The Big Bad Blues<\/span><\/i> show (where they performed with two guitars and drums but no bass). \u00a0It was the effect which added a serious bass-line to the Spanish electric 6-string guitar. \u00a0A killer effect. It was a lo-fi freight-train effect driving the band night to night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Does ZZ Top ever have trouble translating their studio work to the stage? \u00a0\u201cThe studio is an adjunct to what we do and something of a tool shed for us. \u00a0There\u2019s not much we\u2019ve done in the studio that we haven\u2019t been able to do on stage and that\u2019s quite intentional. \u00a0We aim to sound like ourselves, it\u2019s much more comfortable that way. Then again, we do enjoy going about figuring how to replicate the exotic when contemporary tech is in the blend.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Known for infusing their songs with a certain amount of humor and double (or triple) entendres, Gibbons opines that, \u2018Somewhere therein lies rhythmic gold for one\u2019s imagination. \u00a0We figured early on that we\u2019re closer to Howlin\u2019 Wolf and that secret language of the blues. It\u2019s a genuine American art form loaded with some twists and turns worded into the blues subterfuge. \u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m Bad, I\u2019m Nationwide, Arrested For Driving While Blind <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Cheap Sunglasses <\/span><\/i>spring to mind. \u00a0An entertaining turn of phrase, an inside happenstance among us band members most likely gives us a jump start for a song. \u00a0[On] One of the favored numbers from ZZ Top\u2019s <\/span>La Futura<\/span><\/i> album, \u2018chartreuse\u2019 is rhymed with the seldom used term, \u2018caboose\u2019… both a color and a class of liqueur.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Billy wrapped up his session with Wilcocks by again giving Texas credit for the \u2018blues music mojo\u2019 that has stayed with the band. \u00a0Fittingly, we will let BFG offer one more piece of Zen-like wisdom on his chosen path: \u201cWe rarely think of the blues as something immutable. \u00a0It\u2019s ever evolving so there is scant reason to be too doctrinaire about such an art form. The blues really is a living organism on so many levels which leads us to just do what we do and let it flourish. \u00a0The bottom line is ZZ sounds like ZZ which is that of interpretation rather than a slave to form. It\u2019s what keeps it funky.\u201d So sayeth the Zen Master BFG. Elsewhere, Mike the bass player is making his mock horror stricken face, exclaiming, \u201cZZ Top was selling Top 40 singles and was the darling of MTV? \u00a0My ZZ Top?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video –\u00a0Miss Yo’ Kissin’\u00a0<\/em>Live from Houston in November of 2018<\/p>\n