Tony's Guitarist Picks - Billy Gibbons

Billy Gibbons – aka Billy F. Gibbons, BFG, the Rev. Willie G.  Thanks to MTV, he’s known mostly for cool customized cars, a long beard, cheap sunglasses, and being surrounded by gorgeous women.  What those people who know of him for only those things don’t know is that Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top is one hell of a guitar player.  The first ZZ Top album I ever owned was Degüello.  I bought it when it was new in 1979.  I’ve been a fan ever since.    Their motto is “tone, taste, and tenacity.” What do those mean? Of all the guitar players I like [and there are many], what makes Billy Gibbons so special?

Tone.  I’ve seen a lot of words to describe his tone - fuzz-drenched, distorted, crunchy, muddy, dirty, gritty, raunchy, nasty, fat, rude, thick, brown, tuned-down, earthy, reverb- and tremolo-drenched.  All of those words apply.  He does love those pinch harmonics.  The Rev. Willie G has no use for treble.  The nastiest tones Billy Gibbons put on record can be found on Rhythmeen and Mescalero [see clips below].

Zipper Job – Rhythmeen

Alley-Gator - Mescalero

Taste.  Not flashy, anti-shred, laid-back, rhythmical, creates cool, simple but effective rhythms.  He’s not fast – he doesn’t have to be.  Always melodic - I’ve never heard him play a bad solo. One of Billy's greatest strengths is his ability to lay back in the groove. He never rushes his parts. And he never over-plays — on rhythm or leads.  He’s an excellent slide player, too [Just Got Paid, Tush]. 

Tenacity.  ZZ Top have been together over forty years.  The same three guys have been in the band since the first album.  He once told BE Entertainment:  “We still enjoy doing what we do, more than most anything else that a given day might offer. Playing is foremost in our minds, 24 hours a day. The notion of tone, taste and tenacity has been our byline for forever.”  BFG’s secret to longevity - “Play what you want to hear. Keep it fresh and keep the enjoyment factor in focus.”

Influences – BB King, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Roky Erickson, Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan, and Eric Johnson.  Note that there are quite a few Texans on this list.

Hendrix.  Unlike the other guitarists about whom I blog, Billy Gibbons actually knew Jimi Hendrix.  In June 1968, Billy’s pre-ZZ Top Band, the Moving Sidewalks, opened for Hendrix on a Texas tour.  After this tour, Jimi remarked that Billy Gibbons was his favorite guitar player.  If the Rev. Willie G. was Hendrix’s favorite, who am I to argue?

Guitars – BFG has a book titled Rock & Roll Gearhead.  It’s a coffee-table picture book of BFG’s guitars, hot rods, and oh yes, ZZ Top. BFG is an obsessive collector of both cars and guitars – he has over 450 guitars.  The book doesn’t show all of them, but the important ones are there.  His ’59 Les Paul [Pearly Gates], a ’58 Les Paul he used for slide on Just Got Paid, the “Fuzzy One” from the Legs video, and a ’66 Strat he used on La Grange are included.  By and large, BFG is a Gibson man – he loves his Les Pauls, and his Pearly Gates has been copied for a limited edition from Gibson.  Lately he’s been playing a Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo signature model [aka Jupiter Thunderbird], based on a guitar given to him by Bo Diddley.  He’s been known to play Fender Telecasters and Esquires too.  Luthier John Bolin builds custom guitars for Billy.  But his favorite guitar is his Pearly Gates. 

Effects -  On those guitars, he likes light gauge strings – he uses the 7 gauge version.  One would think he’d use heavy strings to get the tones he gets, but BB King suggested he try lighter strings so he wouldn’t have to work so hard at playing.  As for pedals and amps and stuff, BFG has lots of toys and plays with them all.  Premier Guitar interviewed BFG's guitar tech, Elwood Francis.  He can show you in the clip below better than I can write about what his employer uses to get his righteous tones.

Rig Rundown – Billy Gibbons – courtesy of Premier Guitar

One Foot in the Blues – When I think of Texans who were purveyors of the blues, I think of Freddie King, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Lightning Hopkins, Albert Collins, Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan.  ZZ Top draws influences from many blues musicians.  The blues permeated everything they play - there's usually a I-IV-V blues progression in most ZZ Top songs, but blues is not the only thing they play.  To borrow a phrase from Warner Brothers, ZZ Top always has one foot in the blues.  They try to have one blues [and nothing but the blues] on each album [Afterburner didn’t have one – Rough Boy was a bit too syrupy].

The “blues songs”:

Certified Blues / Just Got Back From Baby’s / Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell / Hot, Blue and Righteous / Blue Jean Blues / It’s Only Love / A Fool for Your Stockings / Dust My Broom / She Loves My Automobile / It’s So Hard / I Need You Tonight / 2000 Blues / Cover Your Rig / Vincent Price Blues / Made into a Movie / Tramp / Heartache in Blue

Tony’s iPod List:

ZZ Top’s First Album - (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree / Brown Sugar / Goin’ Down to Mexico / Certified Blues / Just Got Back From Baby’s / Backdoor Love Affair

Rio Grande Mud – Francine / Just Got Paid / Chevrolet / Bar-B-Q / Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell

Tres Hombres – Waitin’ On The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago / Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers / Master of Sparks / Hot, Blue and Righteous / La Grange / Precious and Grace / Sheik

Fandango – Thunderbird / Blue Jean Blues / Mexican Blackbird  / Heard It on the X / Tush

Tejas – It’s Only Love / Arrested for Driving While Blind / El Diablo / Enjoy and Get It On

Degüello – I Thank You / I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide / A Fool for Your Stockings / Dust My Broom / Lowdown in the Street / Cheap Sunglasses / Esther Be the One

El Loco – Tube Snake Boogie / I Wanna Drive You Home / It’s So Hard / Pearl Necklace / Heaven, Hell or Houston

Eliminator – Gimme All Your Lovin’ / Got Me Under Pressure / Sharp Dressed Man / Legs / Thug / TV Dinners / Dirty Dog / I Need You Tonight

Afterburner – Sleeping Bag / Stages / Woke Up With Wood / Can’t Stop Rockin’ / Delirious

Recycler – Concrete and Steel / Lovething / Penthouse Eyes / My Head’s in Mississippi / Give It Up / 2000 Blues / Doubleback

Antenna – Pincushion / World of Swirl / Fuzzbox Voodoo / PCH / Cover Your Rig

Rhythmeen – Rhythmeen / What’s Up With That / Vincent Price Blues / Zipper Job / She’s Just Killing Me / Loaded

XXX – Poke Chop Sandwich / 36-22-36 / Made into a Movie / Sinpusher / [Let Me Be Your] Teddy Bear / Hey Mr. Millionaire

Mescalero – Mescalero / Alley-Gator / Buck Nekkid  / Me So Stupid / Punk Ass Boyfriend / Stackin’ Paper/ Que Lastima / Tramp

La Futura -  I Gotsta Get Paid / Chartreuse / Consumption / Heartache in Blue / Flyin’ High / Big Shiny Nine / Threshold of a Breakdown

Tony's Picks 2012 - The Albums

I didn't buy very much "new" music in 2012.  Like last year, there wasn't very much that screamed at me and said "buy me."  When I did buy music in 2012, it was mostly to complete collections I had already started [Grateful Dead, old Rush, etc].  I find that the new music I buy is from old folks who I've been listening to for many years.  Some of the usual suspects have already been reviewed in these spaces

 

Soundgarden - King Animal  This is Soundgarden's first album of completely new material since 1996's Down on the Upside.  The good news:  King Animal is better than Down on the Upside.  The bad news:  it isn't as good as Superunknown, but then not many albums are.  The best songs are on the first half of the album.  Favorite songs:  A Thousand Days Before, By Crooked Steps, Non-State Actor.

Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears  After being apart for 11 years, Dwight Yoakam comes home to Warner Brothers and releases his first album since his 2007 tribute to Buck Owens [Dwight Sings Buck].  3 Pears has lots of LOUD guitars, standard weepers, and a song with goofy-assed lyrics about jellyfish, peanut butter kisses and giraffes.  Favorite songs:  Take Hold of My Hand, It's Never Alright, A Heart Like Mine, Long Way to Go.

Mumford & Sons - Babel  The wait between 2009's Sigh No More and Babel has been worth it. Who knew that I would like a group of English folk revivalists?  These guys are loud, fiery, ballsy, and full of energy.  One thing they are NOT is "boring" [Fleet Foxes, call your office...].

Spectrum Road - Spectrum Road  This is probably as close to jazz that I will get. One hesitates to use the term "supergroup," but this one is close.  Jack Bruce [Cream], Vernon Reid [Living Color], John Medeski [Medeski, Martin & Wood], and Cindy Blackman-Santana come together to pay tribute to end expand on the music of Tony Williams' Lifetime.  The bulk of the material presented here is from Lifetime's catalog, with a couple of originals and one Scottish traditional song thrown in for good measure.  These guys are no mere tribute band.

Ian Anderson - Thick as a Brick 2 Ian Anderson [Jethro Tull's guiding light] answers the musical question that nobody but a hardcore Tull fan would ask - whatever happened to Gerald Bostock?  For those who don't know, "Gerald Bostock" was a 8-year old boy who wrote an epic poem about the trials of growing up that became the lyrics to Jethro Tull's 1972 concept album Thick as a Brick.  Well, not really...Gerald Bostock was really Ian Anderson, and TAAB was a parody of concept albums then en vogue in the early 1970s.  Unlike the 1972 work, TAAB 2 wasn't recorded as a single, 40-minute song.  The arrangements are leaner, less cluttered, but still well-executed.  TAAB 2 shows five different things that could have happened to Gerald Bostock - he could have been a greedy banker, a soldier fighting in Afghanistan, a shopkeeper, a homeless man, or a preacher.

Mark Knopfler - Privateering  After over thirty years in the business, Mark Knopfler released his first double album of studio material.  If you like what you've heard from MK since he gave up Dire Straits, you get more of the same here.  Oddly enough, this album was not released in the US.  I had to get it as an import.

ZZ Top - La Futura It's been a long time since ZZ Top released anything new.  La Futura has been heralded as ZZ Top's return to their roots.  That's a true statement - the synthesizers of the Eliminator years are gone, as are the beat-box, dub experiments that ruined XXX.  La Futura isn't Tres Hombres, but it's the best thing they've done since Rhythmeen.

Bob Dylan – Tempest It wasn't "the best Dylan release since Blood on the Tracks," but Tempest does continue the musical winning streak Dylan started in 1997 with Time Out of Mind.  Favorite songs:  Pay In Blood, Early Roman Kings, Narrow Way.

http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2012/10/bob-dylan-tempest.html

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill He toured three times with Crosby, Stills & Nash [2000, 2002, 2006].  He made a sequel to an album he never released [Chrome Dreams II].  He made an album-long ode to cars [Fork in the Road].  He devoted an entire album to ranting against the Iraq War [Living With War].  Finally, he got around to making a great album [that I didn't think he had in him] with Crazy Horse, and it's about damn time.  Favorite songs:  Walk Like a Giant, Psychedelic Pill, Twisted Road, She's Always Dancing.

http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2012/11/neil-young-crazy-horse-psychedelic.html

Rush – Clockwork Angels A first in the history of Rush - a concept album.  IMHO, it is far and away the best thing they've done since 1981's Moving Pictures.  Some things do get better with age, like Rush.  Favorite songs:  Clockwork Angels, Seven Cities of Gold, The Wreckers, Headlong Flight.

http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2012/06/rush-clockwork-angels.html

Ry Cooder – Election Special  This is Ry Cooder's contribution in kind to Barack Obama's re-election campaign.  While I don't agree with the message, I do appreciate the art.

http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2012/08/ry-cooder-election-special.html

Things to look forward to in 2013 [assuming the Mayans are wrong]:

Black Sabbath - After 33 years, Black Sabbath are finally recording an album of new music with Ozzy Osbourne.   The original four members [Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward] announced on 11/11/11 that they would reform, make an album and tour the world.  Things haven't quite turned out that way.  Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma at this time last year, so plans had to be put on hold for him to recover.  Bill Ward told the world he's having contractual problems with band management and hasn't gotten a contract he could sign.  In 2012, the rest of the band played three shows with Ozzy's drummer, and from what I've heard of the shows Bill Ward hasn't been missed.  Tony Iommi is recovering well and recording continues on the new Sabbath album.  As yet untitled, it'll probably be out in April 2013.

Alice In Chains - These guys took everybody by surprise and released Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009 to rave reviews [including mine].  I wondered why it's been taking awhile for a follow-up, and last week I found my answer.  Guitarist Jerry Cantrell had shoulder surgery and needed to recover.  They started recording in 2011 and just finished not too long ago.  I think it will be out before Spring 2013.

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - They have a new album, "Old Yellow Moon," due out on Feb 26th.