Billy F. Gibbons touring with side band while ZZ Top is on break

Billy F. Gibbons is a rock ‘n’ roll lifer, which comes as no news to fans of ZZ Top, the Texas blues trio he’s fronted since 1969. But even singing and playing with one of modern rock’s most popular bands, whose music and videos virtually defined the 1980s and sold in excess of 50 million albums over the years, isn’t quite enough for Gibbons.

That’s why he’s always devoted some of his free time to a variety of side projects, most obviously, over the last decade, his solo work with the band he calls the BFGs. Gibbons is bringing his BFGs tour to Plymouth Memorial Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 11. (Memorial Hall is located in downtown Plymouth, at 83 Court St., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $56-$145 and there are also VIP and meet-and-greet packages available. Go to spectaclelive.com or call 1-800-657-8774 for more information.)

This is a pretty notable version of BFGs, with drummer Chris “Ripper” Layton, best known for his work with the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, and organist/bassist Mike “The Drifter” Flanigin, a longtime Gibbons cohort who’s been involved in all his solo projects.

The BFGs tour began in mid-January, but we were able to catch up with Gibbons via email to ask a few questions about the tour and his musical life in general.

Gibbons and his friends bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard launched their little blues trio late in 1969, aiming for the type of roadhouse blues-rock they’d always loved. Somewhat before that, Gibbons had been in a band called Moving Sidewalks, a combo that sought to explore the psychedelic side of rock, and which was inspired in part by fellow Texas rebel Roky Erickson’s 13th Floor Elevators. Moving Sidewalks even got to open some shows for Jimi Hendrix, and the two guitarists forged a bond, so much so that the legend is that Hendrix named Gibbons as his favorite among all the young guitar aces of the time.

Moving Sidewalks didn’t last, but the straight, no-frills rockin’ blues of ZZ Top proved to be something that allowed the musicians to make a steady living, and by 1971 they’d released their debut album.

ZZ Top’s national profile kept building steadily, and really broke through in the 1980s, with indelible hits (and accompanying videos) for tunes like “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” “Just Got Paid” and “La Grange.” Part of the trio’s visual appeal, no doubt, was due to the long beards Hill and Gibbons wore – that’s right, the only guy without a beard, was Frank Beard.

If the ‘80s were their highpoint, ZZ Top continued to win over new fans as the years went by, and to this day enjoys a multi-generational fanbase, all addicted to their gritty, infectious blues-rock, and Gibbons’ concise but thrilling guitar lines. And, of course, there’s a certain devil-may-care cheekiness to most of their lyrics that appeals to that timeless sense of rockin’ rebellion.

With a few breaks, ZZ Top has been touring and recording almost ever since and has produced 15 studio albums. As years went on, they expanded their sound to bring it into contemporary times, most notably adding synthesizers through the ‘90s. Their last original studio album was 2012’s “La Futura,” but in 2022 they released “Raw: That Little Ol’ Band From Texas,” a live album crafted as a companion piece to the film of the same name.

Dusty Hill died in 2021 and was replaced by longtime ZZ Top guitar tech Elwood Francis. When Beard had to take time off the road last spring, longtime drum tech John Douglas stepped in, so while some shows today may not include all three original members, the group is still comprised of key members of the ZZ Top family.

Gibbons’ restless artistic urges had always sent him seeking other outlets, in between ZZ Top tours, and since 2015 he’s focused those solo efforts in the BFGs. We talked with him back then as he toured to promote his “Perfectamundo” album which spiced up his blues-rock with Cuban and other Latin accents. “The Big Bad Blues” took his music to deep blues in 2018, and then “Hardware” in 2021 continued the cross-genre fun with surf rock and other primal rock flavors. Gibbons has been known to explore country shades, pop, gospel and West African rhythms, in a career that has never seen him sit still physically or stylistically for long.

All of which brings us to this year’s BFGs tour, which began with some extended time in Hawaii, and then California, where the trio was able to work up some new tunes. The setlists so far have been very heavy on ZZ Top favorites. Shows have run from between 16 to 19 total songs, for instance, with typically just three songs from other sources. The BFGs have been doing Jimi Hendrix’ immortal “Foxy Lady” on every stop, and also regularly paying tribute to Louisiana bluesman Slim Harpo, with his song “I Got Love If You Want It” The third non-ZZ song in the set is usually a Gibbons solo tune, like “Q-Vo” from that “Perfectamundo” album, or the brand new single “Brown Paper Bag,” from the new Gibbons solo record that will be out later this year.

Previous Gibbons and BFGs tours have seen them toss in surprises like a Johnny Cash tune, or something from organist Jimmy McGriff’s songbook, or the late blues star Jimmy Reed.

The most recent Gibbons news is that his long friendship with actor Billy Bob Thornton – who’s also a musician and once had a cover band dubbed Tres Hombres after the ZZ Top album – led to him being asked to contribute a tune for the soundtrack of the TV series “Landman.” The tune was “Livin’ It Up Down in Texas,” which certainly captures the mood of the music and its use in the series. That kind of prompted the new music for the forthcoming record, starting with the single “Brown Paper Bag,” also slated for the series’ soundtrack, a delightfully snarling sort of prime Gibbons music.

We began our email interview by asking Gibbons about those setlists.

QUESTION: I’ve been looking at some of the setlists online from last year’s tour, and along with lots of Z.Z. Top tunes, you guys were playing some cool covers, from Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, Jimmy McGriff, and of course Jimi Hendrix. Obviously you like to mix it up, and keep the set fluid, but do you especially like to include these nuggets from the past, from blues icons and musicians who provided the roots of modern rock – in other words, is it a goal or part of your mission to educate younger fans about these titans of the past? How do you decide on a setlist every night, assuming there are some of your massive hits you want to always include?

BILLY F. GIBBONS: Good point there, as the challenge is the constant maintenance keeping focused toward a goal or mission. As B.B. King quoted quite a while back, “Learn to play what you want to hear” … and, of course, country, Jesus, hillbilly and blues. The setlist is determined mucho on the fly. If a given song sounds good on a given night, we’ll tend to retrace it again the next. Of course, there are some “musts” in the set list because we must!

QUESTION: Again, looking back at those 2025 setlists, there were perhaps not as many BFGs tunes as might be expected, so will this tour have more of those songs, from your solo work? Perhaps even the new single “Brown Paper Bag”?

GIBBONS: “Brown Paper Bag” is nearing release allowing for some “road testing” every now and then. We’re expecting it to show up on an episode of “Land Man” one of these days and then we’ll let it out. We’ll likely conjure up pieces from “Hardware,” “Perfectamundo” and “The Big Bad Blues” along with a mix of stuff delivered with enjoyment.

QUESTION: “Perfectamundo” had those spicy Cuban flavors, and all of your solo records tended to broaden your musical palette. I understand you’re working on a new solo record, so will this next one veer off into a new direction?

GIBBONS: Yes, we’re aiming new tracks to put in rotation for upcoming releases. Any slated direction seemingly defies description these “daze” until all is said and done. We anticipate laying ’em down loud without specific adjectives in mind. The unexpected creative bent is the magnetic draw. Spontaneity rules.

QUESTION: I noticed one of the pieces I read had you mentioning surf rock. While he’s seen as a California guy, Dick Dale actually grew up in Quincy (where this paper is based) and nearby Whitman, (where then-Richard Monsour played trumpet in the school band), and so I heard, wrote about, talked often with Dick when he came through on his later tours. He also had some contact with young Hendrix. Was Dick Dale and his style of surf rock an influence on you as a young musician, and some of the guitar innovations that followed. And did you and Jimi Hendrix share any surf-rock bond or talk about surf rock in those days?

GIBBONS: Yeah, man! Dick Dale’s South Shore roots have been a long love of his genre bending innovation. He played in a unique percussive manner. Then there’s Jimi Hendrix who had mad respect for surf styles which is sublimely evident. It’s ironic there’s a line in “Third Stone From The Sun” where Jimi suggests “you’ll never hear surf music again” when, in fact, the instrumental track is overtly influenced by surf music.

QUESTION: I saw that this tour opened with some extended stays in Hawaii, and then California, and read that you three had been able to work up some new tunes. Has that continued, and does touring with such exciting mates as Whipper (Layton) and Drifter (Flanigin) spark your songwriting? Do you typically come up with new songs while touring, or was that a special bonus of having that down time and being out with such bandmates?

GIBBONS: We do spend some quality time, ”hang time” with The Whip and “The Drifter” while on the road and the gathering does tend to invite sideline inspiration. It’s the slight benefit being in close quarters.

QUESTION: I think every time I’ve seen ZZ Top was in Boston, but have you played Plymouth before? Do you enjoy or actually seek out some of these smaller, mid-size venues for your BFGs shows, which allow for more intimacy and up-close contact with fans than the big arenas? Is that something you seek out, that closer contact with fans? And how does that affect what you choose to play?

GIBBONS: I know we’ve skirted by Plymouth before however, it’s worth noting I’ve certainly driven one. once it was a Barracuda preceded with a Fury, as I recall. Our fair agent is the guy who figures where we’re gonna play and he’s come up with some very pleasant surprises for this go-round. The venues we’ve been playing are of a rewarding sort of “human scale” which provides an intimacy that simply ain’t found in giant arenas or stadiums. There is a value with more direct feeling of communication and direct connection.

QUESTION: Just a quick one to conclude, you’re finishing this tour and then heading right back out in March with ZZ Top. How tough is that transition, or at this point is it just natural? And is Frank Beard hopefully healthy and ready to rock?

GIBBONS: It’s kind of seamless for us as we’ve done so many times in the past. It’s like spending the night in your own place after having been away … you know what to expect and there’s a comfort in that. We’re all “up and at ‘em” and ready to rock.

Soundcheck Studios has a superb show coming up Feb. 13, when Mike Mattison of the Tedeschi Trucks Band brings his solo band, Trash Magic, to the venue in Pembroke. Mattison has been with the TTB since its inception, and before that he led his own blues combo, Scrapomatic, which we saw open for Susan Tedeschi years ago at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. As fans of the TTB know, Mattison is a galvanizing singer, but what most of them probably don’t realize is that he’s also a major songwriting presence in the TTB, having penned “Midnight in Harlem” among others. And Mattison is no stranger to New England, since he’s a graduate of Harvard, and has spent a lot of his spare time researching and writing about songwriting styles through American history. Mattison’s new band, Trash Magic, is a quintet, so it promises to be an intriguing night of new music, with their new album, “Turn A Midnight Corner” was released Jan. 15.

Unusual shows coming to area

On Sunday, Feb. 15, Brighton Music Hall welcomes garage rockers Trueblood, but they have no ties to that cable TV series. They are in fact a quartet of brothers whose last name really is Trueblood, and their music is another Internet sensation, with millions of online streams. They are also all teenagers – a bassist who’s all of 13, and a guitarist just 15. Meanwhile, on Feb. 17, The House of Blues hosts The Runarounds, and they are a band who broke through due to the Amazon Prime series of the same name that follows the quintet’s exploits. Once a humble college band working the Southeast, Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads found them and produced their EP “The Runarounds: Live at USC” and before you knew it, they were musical and TV stars.

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