ZZ Top w/ Marquise Knox

“That Little Ol’ Band From Texas” has been at it for well over a half century, delivering rock, blues and boogie on the road and in the studio to millions of devoted fans. With iconography as distinctive as their sound, ZZ TOP is virtually synonymous with beards, hotrod cars, spinning guitars and that magic keychain, all of which transcend geography and language. The band consists of singer/guitarist Billy F Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (a/k/a “The Man With No Beard”) and bassist Elwood Francis, who stepped up in 2021 after the passing of longtime member Dusty Hill. With the release of each of their albums the band has explored new ground in terms of both their sonic approach and the material they’ve recorded. ZZ TOP is the same but always changing.

Their latest album RAW (Shelter Records/BMG, July 2022) was recorded at the historic Texas venue Gruene Hall as part of the filming for the 2019 Grammy-nominated documentary directed by Sam Dunn, aptly titled ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band From Texas. Billy, Frank and Dusty blazed through 12 career-spanning tunes in what their guitarist calls “a satisfying return to our roots and a very special circumstance that we’re delighted to share with the friends and fans who have stuck with us all this time.” The album is issued “in righteous memory” of Dusty, and in conjunction with their 50+ date 2022 North American RAW WHISKY TOUR. The tour’s title is partially derived from the new ZZ Top Tres Hombres Whisky offered from Balcones Distilling.

It was in Houston in the waning days of 1969 that ZZ TOP coalesced from the core of two rival bands, Billy’s Moving Sidewalks and Frank and Dusty’s American Blues. The new group went on to record the appropriately titled ZZ Top’s First Album and Rio Grande Mud that reflected their strong blues roots. Their third, 1973’s Tres Hombres, catapulted them to national attention with the hit “La Grange,” still one of the band’s signature pieces today. The song is unabashed elemental boogie, celebrating the institution that came to be known as “the best little whorehouse in Texas.” Their next hit was “Tush,” a song about, well, let’s just say the pursuit of “the good life” that was featured on their Fandango! album, released in 1975. The band’s momentum and success built during its first decade, culminating in the legendary “World Wide Texas Tour,” a production that included a longhorn steer, a buffalo, buzzards, rattlesnakes and a Texas-shaped stage. As a touring unit, they’ve been without peer over the years, having performed before millions of fans through North America on numerous epochal tours as well as overseas where they’ve enthralled audiences from Slovenia to Argentina, from Australia to Sweden, from Russia to Japan and most points in between.