3 Deep Grooves To Celebrate ZZ Top Drummer Frank Beard

ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard, who steadied the Texas band for five decades, died on August 17 at age 77. The longtime percussionist, who had mastered the shuffle, anchored fellow bandmates Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill as the trio redefined blues rock and showmanship.

To celebrate Frank Beard, here are three ZZ Top grooves that wouldn’t be the same without the band’s beardless drummer.

“La Grange”

Though Beard was the only member of ZZ Top who chose not to grow an epic tuft, his grooves were more crucial to the band than his facial hair. On “La Grange”, the trio recycled a John Lee Hooker blues, turning “Boogie Chillun” into a bawdy boogie about a brothel a few miles east of La Grange, Texas. The track appears on Tres Hombres and features some of Beard’s finest drum fills.

Rumor spreadin’ round in that Texas town,
About that shack outside La Grange,
And you know what I’m talking about.
Just let me know if you wanna go,
To that home out on the range.

“Jesus Just Left Chicago”

Also from Tres Hombres, this dirty little blues is propelled by Beard’s relentless swing. He transforms ZZ Top’s 12-bar variation into a searching and hypnotic vagabond gospel. For his part, Billy Gibbons echoes Muddy Waters, burns ferocious solos, and gives the blues a supernatural twist as Jesus makes his way from Chicago to Mississippi, New Orleans, and eventually California. And finally, Gibbons reminds us that “taking care of business is his name.”

“Cheap Sunglasses”

Perhaps ZZ Top’s deepest groove, the keyboard-heavy track is a late 70s masterpiece from Degüello, the band’s sixth LP. Here the tres hombres blend psychedelia, boogie, and classic rock. It’s nearly five minutes of endless groove before the arrangement transforms into a funkier iteration. Beard’s playing is a lesson in the power of space. You’ll notice all the complexity happens up top. Meaning, the kick drum remains simple while Beard rolls around the snare and toms like someone tumbling down the stairs, yet landing upright. But don’t forget those cheap frames when you must spy someone in funky-fine Levi’s.

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