Texas Musicians: ZZ Top

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The alphabetical end has come today, and tomorrow we’ll start with my ten favorite musicians who hail from Texas. Today we’ll close out with a rockin’ bang as we go as far to the end of the alphabet as we can. Here’s today’s band. ZZ Top When a band is billed as “that li’l ol’ band from Texas,” you KNOW they’re gonna show up on the list! This isn’t like that band Alabama, where one of the guys was from Mass-a-freaking-chusetts! No, all three of these guys were Texas born and bred. Bluesy at first (as their first big hit, “Tush,” shows), they got more “mainstream” in the 80s but they never lost that Texas boogie drive in their music. And, of course, they gave us the song “La Grange,” which I had to visit when I was in Texas earlier this year because of the song. (If you don’t know, La Grange is where the infamous Chicken Ranch, popularized in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, was located.) They took Texas all around the world and straight to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dusty Hill, the lead singer on “Tush,” passed away in 2021. Before his death he begged the band to continue, using longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis as the new bassist. That li’l ol’ band from has been rocking for over 55 years! ZZ Top Billy Gibbons: Born William Franklin Gibbons December 16, 1949, Houston (age 74) Dusty Hill Born Joe Michael Hill May 19, 1949, Dallas Died July 28, 2021, Houston (illness) (age 72) Frank Beard Born Frank Lee Beard June 11, 1949, Frankston (age 75) HALL OF FAME: Rock and Roll Here’s “Tush,” their breakthrough hit from 1975: