Dust My Broom – from DVD ZZ Top – Live In Germany 1980
Live In Germany features ZZ Top’s 1980 performance at the Grugahalle in Essen for the German TV series Rockpalast. Hot on the heels of their classic Deguello album, the show sees ZZ Top in their essence as the ‘lil ol’ band from Texas’ nickname in a set packed with their early hits.
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ZZ Top recorded in 1980 on the music oriented TV show, Rockpalast in Germany. Dusty Hill bass/vocals, Billy Gibbons guitar, Frank Beard drums. The writing credit for “Dust my Broom” is a little fuzzy. It has traditionally gone to Robert Johnson, but publishing of Blues songs from the 20s & 30s was almost non existent. The song was popularized by Elmore James “King of the Slide Guitar”.
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American trio from Texas. The group was founded in 1970. Its members were artists from once competing bands – guitarist Billy Gibbons from the Moving Sidewalks, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard from American Blues.
ZZ Top gained fame thanks to the track “La Grange” from the blues-rock album “Tres Hombres“. The next albums “Deguello”, “El Loco”, “Eliminator” and “Afterburner” also did not go unnoticed. The artists developed a distinctive image – long beards, golf hats and dark glasses.
They started their musical career in the seventies with a sound characterized by blues-rock and south rock while retaining the characteristic hard rock. However, they gained commercial fame in the 1980s with the albums 1983 Eliminator and 1985 Afterburner, in a style closer to electronic rock and with the use of synthesizers. In the nineties they largely returned to the style of the seventies, but without completely losing the ability to use the keys. This partially caused their albums to pull away from the charts, but they regained many of their early followers. In 2012, the group released their fifteenth studio album La Futura, their first work in about ten years, which once again placed them on charts around the world.
With over forty years of music career, they have earned dozens of gold and platinum records, being one of the most successful bands in the south of North America. In the United States alone, they sold approximately 25 million copies, and by 2014 it was estimated that their worldwide sales exceeded 50 million.
Back to the Future Part III
Ever since ZZ Top created his artistic image with huge beards, sunglasses, hats and suits imitating jeans, they have earned their place in the world of film and television. The first appearance of famous names was in 1990 in the movie Back to the Future Part III.
Death of Dusty Hill
In July 2021, Dusty Hill was forced to leave a tour after a hip injury. ZZ Top performed without him at the Village Commons in New Lenox, Illinois, with Hill’s guitar tech Elwood Francis on bass. Five days later, on July 28, ZZ Top announced that Dusty Hill had died at his home in Houston at the age of 72. Gibbons confirmed that the band would continue with Francis, per Hill’s wishes.
