Billy F. Gibbons: “We let off steam by letting it rock... Hardware is a raging rocker but always mindful of the desert’s implicit mystery”

Billy Gibbons
(Image credit: Jen Rosenstein)

Editor's note: this interview was conducted and published in print prior to the passing of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill.

Last year Billy F. Gibbons found himself with a lot of time on his hands. Like most musicians, the sudden cancellation of touring hit the ZZ Top guitarist hard, so he was wide open to drummer Matt Sorum’s suggestion that they get together in a studio in the California High Desert near Joshua Tree National Park to kick around some ideas with guitarist Austin Hanks. 

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Alan Paul

Alan Paul is the author of three books, Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan, One Way Way Out: The Inside Story of the Allman Brothers Band – which were both New  York Times bestsellers – and