Billy F. Gibbons says his new single, “Livin’ It Up Down in Texas,” is the start of a spate of music he hopes to be releasing this year with his own BFG’s as well as with ZZ Top.
“We’ve been in the studio working on what could be new BFG’s material as well as working with Frank (Beard) and Ellwood (Francis) on a ZZ Top piece, and this was a little side trip,” Gibbons tells UCR about the new song, which debuted during the season finale of Paramount+’s Taylor Sheridan drama Landman. He says that recording is “about halfway done” on the other endeavors and adds that, “I suspect 2025 may reveal something new on both the BFG’s front as well as ZZ.”
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That said, Gibbons also cautions that live plans for both groups will certainly impact on when we hear any more of the new music. “We still enjoy stepping aboard the tour bus and making the rounds,” he acknowledges. “The challenge is finding time to get it all together in a recording studio as a backdrop.”
Fans have certainly been waiting for both groups to drop something new. For the BFG’s — which now includes original member Mike “The Drifter” Flanigin on keyboards and new drummer Chris “Whipper” Layton from Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble — it’s been four years since Hardware, the troupe’s third album. ZZ Top, however, hasn’t had anything new out since La Futura in 2012, and Gibbons has said some of the material he, Beard and Francis are working on was started with the late Dusty Hill, who passed away during 2021.
Gibbons says the grinding, uptempo “Livin’ It Up Down in Texas,” which he co-wrote with Landman star Billy Bob Thornton and singer-songwriter Mark Collie, “was rather unexpected. They needed a special song for (the show) and I was more than happy to scratch my head and say, ‘Gimme an idea of which direction you want to go in.’ They sent me a photograph of a burning oil well and said, ‘Let’s make something that sounds like this…'”
The song, Gibbons adds, helped jostle the BFG’s into road action again this year. “The next thing you know we were going full-steam ahead, and then the management office said, ‘Well, pack your bags; it looks like the BFG’s are well on their way to bring in some loudness…’,” he says. The trio began with shows last weekend at the Blue Note Hawaii in Honolulu and is at the Note Napa in California this week, with 17 more dates across the country before wrapping up Feb. 20 in Bristol, Tenn.
Hear Billy F. Gibbons Perform ‘Livin’ It Up Down in Texas’
The repertoire, Gibbons promises, is “a little bit of this, a little bit of that — and a lot of loudness,” drawing on both of his bands’ material. “The good news on a creative front is the ability to work with new compadres and kind of taking steps in different directions,” he says.
“Of course having said that, it’s no secret that one of the (band’s) cornerstones is it keeps one foot in the great American art form called the blues. Y’know, the ZZ Top sound developed with the minimalist approach by, I think, Jimi Hendrix and then (Eric) Clapton and Cream. It forces a side of creativity that demands 100 percent, 110 percent — everybody’s gotta be pumping. When you limit it to the sparity of a trio, it keeps everyone on point.
“With these guys, really, all I have to do is walk out, stand up and let it rip.”
ZZ Top will hit the road in early March. The remaining dates for Gibbons and the BFG’s include…
Jan 21-24 – Blue Note Napa @ Napa, CA
Jan 25 – Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City @ Cathedral City, CA
Jan 26 – Musical Instrument Museum @ Phoenix, AZ
Jan 28 – Vilar Performing Arts Center @ Beaver Creek, CO
Jan 31 – The Pageant @ St. Louis, MO
Feb 1 – Park West @ Chicago, IL
Feb 2 – House of Blues @ Cleveland, OH
Feb 4 – Jergel’s Rhythm Grille @ Warrendale, PA
Feb 6 – Kentucky Theatre @ Lexington, KY
Feb 7 – The Paramount Theater @ Charlottesville, VA
Feb 8 – Borgata Theater @ Atlantic City, NJ
Feb 10 – The Bardavon 1869 Opera House @ Poughkeepsie, NY
Feb 12 – The Music Hall @ Portsmouth, NH
Feb 13 – The Cabot @ Beverly, MA
Feb 14 – Ridgefield Playhouse @ Ridgefield, CT
Feb 15 – Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center @ Great Barrington, MA
Feb 19 – The Birchmere @ Alexandria, VA
Feb 20 – Paramount Bristol @ Bristol, TN
Ranking Every ZZ Top Album
From the first album to ‘La Futura,’ we check out the Little ‘ol Band From Texas’ studio records.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
