The guitarist Billy Gibbons called a blues “maestro”
All aspiring musicians ask themselves what kind of artist they want to be if the bright lights of fame come knocking. While the most cynical might aim to be world-famous, stadium-fillers with little street cred but coffers lined with gold, others, more focused on their craft, would be content as cult favourites—a best-kept secret cherished by those in the know. Most notable musicians can be split into these two camps, but one artist who managed to expertly straddle both worlds, achieving global celebrity while maintaining artistic credibility, is Billy Gibbons.
The ZZ Top legend is a rare musician who has enjoyed mainstream success, with his name—and iconic beard—recognised even outside the music world. Yet, he remains cherished by many prominent guitarists as one of the finest ever to grace the fretboard. Straddling both commercial fame and artistic respect is something only the true greats can achieve. Many other prominent musicians often end up viewed as “uncool” by the very communities that first helped elevate them, but Gibbons has managed to maintain credibility and admiration across the board.
While Gibbons might be famed for his big beard, furry guitar, and ZZ Top’s tongue-in-cheek 1980s hits, those who love his work know he enjoyed a long and excellent history before the commercially abundant MTV period. A purveyor of hard rock warmth, adept at emotive soul and pure grit, Gibbons appeals to a long list of revered artists, ranging from his late friend Jimi Hendrix to Jerry Cantrell.
Even Joe Satriani, one of the most revered virtuosos, a profoundly technical approach that’s spiritually at odds with Gibbons’, is a longtime lover of his work. He once said: “With Billy, we all know the guitar sound, and his style of Texas blues is quite unique. It’s built on wonderful styles of other blues players, but it’s completely unique. He’s the most innovative blues composer who has come along in ’50/’60 years. And he keeps getting better at it. That’s the true testament to his talent.”
Satriani, a man who has spent his life studying the guitar, was, of course, correct in his assessment of Gibbons. Not only is he an innovator in his own right, who made a significant impact on Cantrell and other alternative rock players nearly two decades after he broke out with ZZ Top, but he also built on the blues foundations that were already laid by others.
Although Gibbons certainly put Texan blues rock on the map, he wasn’t the first to instil rock music with a profound sense of feel. He emerged when many were starting to take this tact, such as Jimmy Page, Peter Green, David Gilmour, and Hendrix, and one man is credited with instituting this approach: BB King. The late Mississippian was a bluesman by trade, but his wailing work on his famous Gibson ES ‘Lucille’ opened the eyes of many wanting to go much further than simply technically show off on the fretboard. Rock music, as we know it today, would be a different beast without his efforts.
Gibbons has been open about his love of ‘The King of the Blues’ on many occasions. When speaking to Classic Rock in 2023, he named King his favourite guitarist of all time, greatly praising his effective one-note style, classy sustain and attack approach and asserting that he was an underrated “maestro”.
Of his ultimate influence, Gibbons concluded: “Obviously he was a maestro entertainer, rather than a blues purist, though he could to that too. He was a former cotton-picker but he remained so self-effacing, plus he had a great sense of humour, lyrically and in life. He had class.”
BB King oozed class right until the very end. From his performances to his persona, his gentlemanly approach to the guitar and his understanding of it as something far more complex than purely an instrument was revolutionary. He instilled soul into the six-string. It has since been used to extract complex emotions that were thought largely anathema to popular music before his emergence.
