“It’s possible Pink Floyd’s Gilmour is playing somewhere right now. His solos can drag on but never seem to have fans looking at their watches. Like most rock guitar greats, Gilmour harbors a blues influence. He’s technically sound while still keeping the emotion high. The epic, multi-part “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and The Wall highlight, “Comfortably Numb,” rank at the top of Gilmour’s best.”
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In the first Reacher novel, our hero was a big fan of old blues songs and players. I was happy to hear that this iteration kept some of that backstory. We will see (hear) if season 2 continues the references.
This is on Qobuz. A slow mellow Blues.
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This is a very good synopsis by an excellent pedal designer. It is not without error, but it covers a complex emergence of Rock from the Blues.
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ZZ Top (the name came from artists known to that “Lil Ol Band from Texas” who noted artists like BB King, and ZZ Top was more appropriate than ZZ King (which was very briefly considered). (BTW, it had nothing at all to do with ZigZag).
The history of the three guys is a current documentary that can be streamed. They were quirky, and they were innovative.
Over a decade ago, I discussed a screen play with an agent and wanted to use their “Rough Boy” as an intro song. I also had a lesser known actor whom I wanted to play the lead role. I was told in no uncertain terms, “you can reach out and see if his agent has any interest in the story, but you cannot dictate a song be used. You are a writer. You are not a director.”
So with that and other constraints, also legal, the project was abandoned.
But “Rough Boy” plus a case history were my inspirations for what I felt would be a great movie that never came to be.
Billy Gibbons is an excellent and innovative player. Dusty Hill was 72 at the time of death. He was clinically obese, and the dummer Frank Beard had a prolonged period of drug abuse.
I pondered that if you have a group (corporation) that produced millions in revenue…do you have the option/right to demand that your bandmates take care of themselves?
In either case, listen to Rough Boy (again) if you have not heard it recently.
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Dusty “The American Dream” Rhodes was a Professional Wrestler.
Dusty Hill was ZZ Top’s bass player, quite a difference.
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That first photo is quite scare and should carry a warning label… 
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Don’t you mean American Nightmare?
Will have trouble sleeping now😂
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Second time I made that error.
I used to see ZZ Top in Dallas/Ft Worth about the time of their first album release through mid 1970s. First time was at Panther Hall, a small (mostly country dance hall) place in Ft.Worth. I think their first album was not out yet, but came out shortly afterwards. I very much enjoyed their shows and the first 3 albums. My favorite is the 2nd, Rio Grande Mud. These on CD are much better after the re-releases a few years ago. They removed the awful drum machine stuff added in the 80s and returned to the original mixes. One of my buddies went to high school with Frank Beard.
p.s. After maybe 1976, saw them again in maybe 2016 or 2017 in Florida with Jeff Beck opening. A good friend who is also friends with Billy Gibbons (long story) got us comp tickets and back stage passes. That was all very cool, but the show was terrible. The sound/mix was so cranked that I literally couldn’t tell what songs they were playing. And this was a small amphitheater. Jeff Beck portion was much better. The sound at this location can be good. I’ve seen Jason Isbell and band there and the sound was crystal clear.
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Interesting story. Thank you for sharing. There’s Southern Rock and then there’s ZZ Top. They mention that they were influenced by Punk. I suspect that, if younger, they would have evolved further just like Hendrix would have become a jazz musician.
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This guy is awesome! Highly recommended.
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He was an excellent find by you last week.
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I was going to read through this entire thread to ensure my own selections had not already been covered off, but this is a question I can answer in isolation.
Elements of my parents’ listening preferences skirted around the edges of blues and sometimes accidentally drove right through the middle of it. There is an opaque homogenisation of country, rock and blues in many forms. Some artists live on the borders of genres and some accidentally venture into the collective mix of these three even if they don’t normally live there.
Cream performing Crossroads was the first conscious realisation of blues for me and I would have been 7 or 8 at the time when I first heard it. Crossroads being the 1930s song of a circular story of a musician going to the Crossroads to do a deal with the devil to be a better player.
I think a 3 piece arrangement, like Cream, has colossal ability to distil a song into the simplest and most forceful version of itself. I followed Clapton from a relatively early age in my music journey because he grew-up, in-part, close to my corner of London.
Cream lead me to Jimi Hendrix (no surprises there as front to another epic 3 piece) and then on to the wider, heady intersection of rock and blues genres.
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This is one of the most contorted trains-of-thought ever… I’m not sure the answer is there to be discovered. Could the very essence of some artists’ creative processes be stifled by the indentured-nature of a mandatory self-care clause? It creates some safeguard, to varying extents and degrees, the longevity of the existing catalogue and its performance on the road. Conversely it could drive the end of the band through the restrictive covenants just as easily through frustration, boredom and the nebulous nature of substance-driven creativity.
I had the conversation with a friend recently regarding the “27 Club”, and in particular we spoke of Kurt Cobain. His demise can be partially attributed to the circumstance of being in Nirvana and the neuroses (and coping mechanisms) that understandably arose. Would the legacy have been as great if Nirvana continued? Or was its very essence of a bright flame burning for a short time, the reason why they are still culturally important 30 years on? Would Foo Fighters have arisen without the tragedy? Hmmm.
Off topic, but I find this narrow area of consideration regarding the critique of an artist’s output based on their motivations, mechanisms, restrictions and personal experiences to be nothing short of a philosophical endeavour that could span countless volumes. It’s entirely fascinating to me, and also bordering on macabre in some respects.
With that, I will leave it there and offer-up some of my favourite Blues/Rock material that I have not seen mention of yet already in this thread.
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I’ve seen no mention of this particular Eric Clapton project, but it stands out for me because of Steve Winwood’s vocals.
Let me ponder further.
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I make no secret that I have appreciable doubts about Clapton, but Winwood’s work has been really great, for me especially with the Spencer Davis Group.
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