Billy Gibbons Hardware

Billy F. Gibbons launched his belated solo career in 2015 with Perfectamundo, a loose exercise in Latin rhythms that was slightly outside of the wheelhouse of ZZ Top, which had been his main gig since 1969. Big Bad Blues, its 2018 sequel, could also be seen as a bit of a genre exercise, as it was a heavy blues album, but Hardware is something else entirely. This 2021 platter is a straight-ahead rock & roll album in the vein of ZZ Top, a record filled with originals that feel familiar, as they're built of the same components Gibbons has relied upon for decades: fuzztone guitars, thick swing and burly boogie, sly jokes and growled vocals.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and ZZ Top frontman, Billy F Gibbons wants to take you on a desert trip. Hardware is Billy's third release as a solo artist. He compiled a group of a-listers including Matt Sorum (dr), Austin Hanks (gtr) and headed into the California desert to record in Pioneertown. Hardware features the guitar prowess and vocals that have made Billy a legend but it also shows Billy stretching his music landscape past the place where the road ends.