Billy Gibbons in Concert
From his awesome beard to his massive riffs and gravelly voice, Gibbons has been carving out his own place in music history for the past 50 years. Born in 1949 in Houston, Texas, to a father who was a concert pianist and orchestra conductor, Gibbons rebelled by picking up the electric guitar at age 13. As a teen he played in a number of bands, striking gold as his group The Moving Sidewalks penned the Doors-esque "99th Floor," which became a hit in Houston. Oh, and they opened for Jimi Hendrix during his first American headlining tour. Those experiences would give Gibbons the fire he needed going forward, as he would form ZZ Top in 1969. With the rough-riding, groundbreaking group, he found incredible mainstream success throughout their numerous platinum-selling releases (‘Degüelo,' ‘Eliminator,' ‘Afterburner'), chart-scorching singles ("La Grange," "Gimme All Your Lovin," "Sleeping Bag"), and numerous awards and distinctions, including an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Gibbons' solo career took off late in life, with his first solo LP dropping in 2015. ‘Perfectamundo' delivered everything one could desire from a Gibbons solo album: Afro-Cuban rhythms, grungy blues licks, and a Tom Waits-flavored general dirtiness. Its follow-up, the energetic ‘Big Bad Blues,' was released three years later, in 2018.
As a collaborator, Gibbons has lent guitar bliss to countless big-time musicians and their songs, including Queens of the Stone Age's "Burn the Witch," B.B. King's "Tired of Your Jive" (from ‘B.B. King and Friends'), Nickelback's "Rockstar," Hank Williams III's "Trashville.' In addition, he's performed in a ton of blockbuster supersessions, like when he joined Lou Reed and Jim Jarmusch to play with The Raconteurs at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, or when he played Skynyrd's "Free Bird" on ‘The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien' alongside Ben Harper, Beck, Will Ferrell, and Conan himself.
