One Less Hombre

Born in Dallas in 1949, Joseph “Dusty” Hill played in a number of bands growing up and even played with the legendary Lightnin’ Hopkins at the age of 20 before moving to Houston will good friend Frank Beard. There they met Billy Gibbons and formed the band ZZ Top. Initially rooted in blues, the band's style evolved throughout their career, with a signature sound based on Gibbons' blues guitar style and the rhythm section of Hill and Beard. Sadly, Dusty Hill died yesterday at the age of 72.

Known for his look of a 20-inch beard (the same for Gibbons), Hill’s bass playing was grinding and precise, one half of a rhythm section that produced 15 studio albums and multiple hits.

Hill described his playing this way: “My sound is big, heavy and a bit distorted because it has to overlap the guitar,” he said in a 2000 interview. “Someone once asked me to describe my tone, and I said it was like farting in a trash can. What I meant is it’s raw, but you’ve got to have the tone in there.”

Hill was a major contributor to songwriting and even contributed lead vocals on a number of tracks including “Ten Dollar Man”, “I Got The Six” and the classic “Tush”.

The beauty of Hill’s playing and ZZ Top’s sound was how it evolved from Texas-blues to a more modern sound in the 1980s without losing their edge. Commercial success didn’t ruin them, they remained pretty true to the sounds they started playing back in Houston.

Tributes have come in from the industry, including from Flea who referred to Hill as “a true rocker” and Go-Go’s member Kathy Valentine who tweeted that Hill is “a Texas icon”.

So for today’s Throwback Thursday, let’s head on down to a Texas roadhouse for the ZZ Top classic, “Tush”.