ZZ TOP: FROM THE TEXAS UNDERBELLY

In years past, most Texas musicians have been forced to leave the land of the Lone Star in order to “make it,” but that may now be changing. If any one event signalled the change, it was ZZ Top’s First Annual Texas Size Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance and Bar B.Q. Held at the University of Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, ZZT was top-billed over Santana, Joe Cocker and Bad Company — and it proved to be the rock show of 1974 in Texas.

ZZ Top likes to call itself “a little ole band from Texas.” As manager Bill Hamm observed, “ZZ Top’s music comes from the seedy, raw underbelly of Texas. It’s driving down dust roads at 100 mph, beer in hand, looking for the ever-elusive good-time type of music.”