“He had a gallon jug of wine, and he said, ‘Hey, man, I’m Dusty.’ And with that, he passed out”: Billy Gibbons recalls meeting Dusty Hill for the first time
Billy Gibbons’ first meeting with ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill could have been the opening scene of a wild rock ‘n’ roll movie.
Much as Hill had become an essential part of ZZ Top’s unique sound over the decades, he wasn’t the band’s original bassist. That role initially belonged to Billy Ethridge, who stepped away just a year into the group’s formation to pursue other musical interests.
In a new interview with Rock & Roll High School, Gibbons looks back on the moment Hill officially entered the picture, noting how it was anything but conventional.
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“After working with Frank [Beard, drummer], Billy Ethridge was holding down the bass chops,” the guitarist explains [via Ultimate Guitar]. “But Billy Ethridge wanted to go on and further his direction behind the Hammond B-3 organ. And he said, ‘Listen, ask Frank about this guy, Dusty. They’ve been playing together. If I were to leave, I think you’ll find Dusty a suitable replacement.’”
“We decided to do a little rehearsal jam session, and sure enough, Dusty showed up. Well, I must back up a little bit. Frank said, ‘Hey, I want to introduce you to Dusty.’ He’s coming over at three this afternoon. Around four o’clock, then five o’clock, no Dusty. At 6pm, I said, ‘Well, where’s this guy Dusty?’ And, I guess around seven o’clock, there’s a knock on the door. I went and opened it, and this guy was standing there.”
Gibbons continues: “He had a gallon jug of wine, and he stepped in and he said, ‘Hey, man, I wanted to let you know, I’m Dusty.’ And with that, he fell on the floor and passed out. This is going to be my guy! But the next day, we picked up, and we started saying, well, ‘Let’s jam a number or two.’ And we wound up three hours on a shuffling speed. And I said, ‘Man, this is going to work.’”
After Dusty Hill’s death in 2021, he was replaced by Elwood Francis, who still handles bass duties in ZZ Top to this day.
The post “He had a gallon jug of wine, and he said, ‘Hey, man, I’m Dusty.’ And with that, he passed out”: Billy Gibbons recalls meeting Dusty Hill for the first time appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
