By: Holly Gleason
Edison Graff / Stardust Fallout
Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ TopPearl Concert Theater, Las Vegas, Nev.
There was nothing like the combination of ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. The blues-boogie trio exuded Texas not just with the notes, but the greasy or desolate spaces between those notes. With Beard’s thromping crash and Gibbons’ hot sauce burn to the electric guitar parts, Hill provided a rounded, penetrating bass note that aligned to Beard’s pounding drums without getting in the way of Gibbons’ Frederick s of Hollywood nasty playing.
After leaving ZZ Top s North American tour to go home to Houston to tend to a hip issue last week, Hill passed away in his sleep Tuesday night. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer – and the voice of the deliciously randy crown jewel of ‘70s/’80s/’90s AOR radio “Tush” – was 72.