Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and one third of Texas trio ZZ Top Billy F Gibbons has announced a North American for this fall in support of his forthcoming solo album Big Bad Blues.
Billy and his band, consisting of drummer Matt Sorum (Guns ‘N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), left handed guitarist Austin Hanks, and Elwood Francis, DJ and harmonica player, will be hitting the road from NYC to California on the two dozen date tour that includes a multi-night stand at New York’s Iridium and culminates at the fabled Troubadour in West Hollywood. Ticket sales begin this Tuesday, August 14.
“There’s something very primordial within the art form, nobody gets away from the infectious allure of those straight-ahead licks!” Gibbons said of the album in a statement. “I suspect Jimmy Reed did me in early on. The inventiveness of that high and lonesome sound remains solid and stridently strong to this day. We could go on to mention the lineup of usual suspects, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy, all three Kings [B.B., Albert and Freddie]. The lengthy list of champions is forever carved in stone.”
A lyric video for “Missin’ Yo’ Kissin’,” the very first track of The Big Bad Blues, has just been released. Its hot rod theme is a reflection of one of BFG’s burning passions and includes his fenderless ’34 Ford “Whiskey Runner” built by rodding legend Jimmy Shine.
The follow-up to the Afro-Cuban-flavored Perfectamundo, The Big Bad Blues is a more straight-forward blues-rock affair, and will hit the streets on September 21 from Concord Records. In addition to the songs penned by Billy, four others were written by blues giants Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Jerome Green, Bo’s legendary “Maraca Man”. The song list also has the girls touch as Gilly Stillwater composed Missin’ Yo’ Kissin’… Billy remarked “She was writing that about me, wasn’t she?!?
Billy F Gibbons – The Big Bad Blues Tour 2018
Oct 13 Riverside, IA Riverside Casino and Golf Resort
Oct 14 Prior Lake, MN Mystic Lake Casino – Showroom
Oct 16 Chicago, IL House of Blues
Oct 17 Columbus, OH The Bluestone
Oct 18 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
Oct 20 Wabash, IN Honeywell Center
Oct 21 Cleveland, OH Agora Ballroom
Oct 23 Kitchener, ON Centre in the Square
Oct 25 Derry, NH Tupelo Music Hall
Oct 26 Beverly, MA The Cabot Theater
Oct 28 Huntington, NY The Paramount
Oct 30 New York, NY Iridium Jazz Club
Oct 31 New York, NY Iridium Jazz Club
Nov 01 Washington, DC Pearl Street Warehouse
Nov 03 Pompano Beach, FL Pompano Beach Amphitheatre
Nov 05 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Nov 06 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues – Orlando
Nov 07 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Nov 09 Houston, TX Revention Music Center
Nov 10 Fort Worth, TX Billy Bob’s Texas
Nov 11 San Antonio, TX Aztec Theater
Nov 15 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
Nov 16 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl
Nov 18 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour
