Billy F Gibbons of ZZ Top talks with Dan Rather about how the band adopted their trademark beards, as well as how he ended up wearing his now iconic cap on.
The Conversation
let me start by asking a question I'm
sure you've never been asked before
tell me the story of the beard
one word lazy
we started ZZ Top in 1969.
we carried on without stop up until the
bicentennial year of 76.
and at that time we were looking at an
invitation to join the ranks of the
Warner Brothers group and it was the
decision by management to
take a brief break after literally seven
years of non-stop touring right maybe a
90-day hiatus
would give us a little breathing room
it's turned into
120 days later it was one year
and we all kind of scattered keeping in
touch only by telephone
now it's two years running
and all the machinations to join the
ranks of Warner Brothers were still
underway in the meantime as I mentioned
the word lazy came in now there's one
Telltale photograph
our first official release for Warner
Brothers contained a photograph on the
little sleeve inside the 12 inch long
playing album actually the only evidence
of Frank beard with a beard is hiding
inside of that deguello record
he quickly grabbed the razor and went to
town but uh Dusty and I what started out
as a disguise
turned into a trademark well that's what
it is now it has been for a very long
time
that you're as much identified with the
beard
almost or perhaps as much as with music
yes indeed
and of course and the not too distant
future there was another
compounding
entry into the land of beard walking
down the sidewalk there's is that Duck
Dynasty
no that's ZZ Top
so we we've we've now added a new column
of keeping score is it are those the ZZ
geys or is that the Doug Dynasty guy
well you call it a cap or a hat well it
is a cap this too has become kind of
traditional like I wouldn't say you're
recognized as much for the campus you're
over the beard but it's getting to be
close I would say so uh
ZZ Top was touring through Europe
and there came a three-week gap in the
break
the stopping point was in Vienna and the
young lady that was representing Warner
Brothers at the time was best friends
her girlfriend was the Austrian
consulate to the African country of
Cameroon
I stayed in Vienna thinking well it's a
lot to pick up sticks and go back to the
States so the girl from Warner Brothers
said Gee I'm making a trip with my
girlfriend
and some of the dignitaries from
Vienna to the country of Cameroon would
you like to go
I said sure we'll pop in and uh being
good text and I had my 10 gallon Stetson
on
and on arrival
the chief
breezed past the Minister of Foreign
Affairs the minister of Arts the Cameron
consulate walked straight up to
Minnesota I like the hat and I got the
elbow give the chief the hat and I said
no wait a minute we're from Texas Chief
we do a little horse trading on these
matters
sure enough he got it sent somebody
scurrying about next came I could get
another 10 gallon hat
this I'm not so sure well I've never
heard that story so you traded your 10
gallon hat for the Cameroon hat oh yeah
and the rest as they say is history and
the rest is history I think we both got
a pretty good deal