Gut-bustin' Texas blues

Like an electrocuted alligator crawling from a Montgomery marsh, ZZ Top emerged in 1970 from the '60s purple haze of psychedelic Farfisa organ riffs and Southern rock guitar screams, launching a lifelong commitment to the guitar boogie stomp inventions of artists like John Lee Hooker. Other bands of the era, like Canned Heat, Foghat and Cactus tapped similar blues inspirations, sometimes with good results. But ZZ Top took boogie from funky roadhouses on Route 66 to decades of solid standing in the global top 40 pop charts.  

Granted, the band's trademark beards, glittery ponchos and blatant embrace of the made-in-the-U.S.A. religion that worships cars, women and raunchy hard rock has not always won them critical acclaim. But after spending the '80s spreading automotive and Texas belle voluptuousness across MTV screens to a bluesy soundtrack, ZZ Top came back in the '90s with CDs like Rhythmeen (RCA, 1996) that signaled a sharp turn from pop music's novelty boulevard onto their own down-home, hard-rock turf.

Today, the fret work of lead guitarist Billy Gibbons, which once earned the admiration of Jimi Hendrix, coupled with ZZ Top's reputation for having one of the tightest rhythm sections in the business, continues to fill venues from Fort Worth's Billy Bob's Texas to New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Through all of their million-selling recordings, the trio has always been quick to humbly remind people of their Texan blues roots. As Gibbons says in an interview with The Prague Post, "Just listen to a Lightnin' Hopkins, Freddy King or T-Bone Walker record. Each of those guys was a natural; their music wasn't learned, per se; it grew out of them. Guitar techniques vary, but the common [Texas] thread is a fluidity that you can't find anywhere else."

Still, Gibbons sees the blues panorama as stretching far beyond the Lone Star state. "The whole thing that we now call rock 'n' roll began in West Africa," he notes. "But each permutation of it, as it made its way around the world, includes that common essence that can be found in rhythms, melodies and an overriding sense of mystery."

Clearly immersed in the Southern blues in the unique way that only Texans can claim, ZZ Top plays out a musical vision that acknowledges the contributions of their British blues-rock cousins, the Rolling Stones. Commenting on his recent gift of two of his prized gold and silver guitars to Keith Richards and Ron Wood, Gibbons says, "They took what far too many of us on this side of the ocean took for granted or just ignored, and put it back in our faces. The Stones brought it back home for Americans who had lost track of it. That's a public service if ever there was one."

In that sense, the bands share the same roots. "Chuck Berry has a lot to do with Keith's playing, as I'm sure he'd readily agree," Gibbons says. "But let's not forget that Chuck got his stuff from T-Bone Walker before him."

With their 40th anniversary coming up later this year, ZZ Top has teamed up with Midas-touch producer Rick Rubin for their long-awaited next CD. Gibbons declined to discuss what they're doing in the studio. "We'll just keep things under wraps until we're ready to let it out of the cage," he says.

As for what to expect at their Prague show, Gibbons says, "Same three guys, same three chords. We like to have fun out there, so what you'll get is some old stuff and some new stuff, and we like to throw a few surprises into the mix. Dusty, Frank and I are brushing up on our Czech, and we've learned that the word for beer is pivo. So I think we have it pretty much covered."

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at
features@praguepost.com