ZZ Top

With Tejas, ZZ Top moves ahead slightly from their madcap boogies to a more sophisticated
sound. "El Diablo" opens with a simple blues riff that could have come from an old Lightnin'
Hopkins or Robert Johnson record. After two quick vocal choruses, Billy Gibbons' terse
guitar break sounds inspired more by John McLaughlin than Hopkins. Frank Beard's
Cobham-inspired double-bass drumming moves beneath Dusty Hill's laconic bass... More >

Touring the way this band does tears you up by the roots, until the digs at Rolling Stone assume an authenticity lacking in the tales of the Pan-Am Highway. But this is the first trio to hark back to country music as well as blues, and they're brawnier than anything that comes out of Austin. You think Kinky Friedman will cover "Arrested for Driving While Blind"? (Grade: C+)