Follow-Up To Afro-Cuban Inspired 2015 Solo Debut Perfectamundo Sees The Reverend Willie G Back With the Blues!

ZZ Top guitar giant Billy Gibbons follows-up his much-admired Afro-Cuban inspired 2015 solo debut Perfectamundo with second album, The Big Bad Blues. The focus of the new set is the lifetime love of blues and rock ‘n' roll that has fueled Gibbons' entire career. Its 11 tracks showcase a combination of his new blues originals and interpretations of such numbers as "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Standing Around Crying." "We successfully made our way through those uncharted waters with the Cubano flavor of Perfectamundo and completed the journey," says Gibbons, explaining how the new project differs from the last. "The shift back to the blues is a natural. It's something which our followers can enjoy with the satisfaction of experiencing the roots tradition and, at the same time, feeling the richness of stretching the art form."

Of the players on The Big Bad Blues, Gibbons notes: "From deep in the heart of Texas, our Hammond organ specialist, Mr. Mike Flanigin, stepped forward and accepted the invitation to step from the B3 bench to take on the task of pounding the ivory 88s. Great piano stuff from Mike ‘The Drifter' Flanigin. Master of the Fender bass-guitar, Joe Hardy lent his low-down sound with his fearless funkiness, so fine! Also, in the mash-up mix, the man-with-the-backbeat-plan, Greg Morrow. G keeps the skins alive and kickin'. And while we're on that backbeat thang...Matt Sorum steps forward with his super-syncopation, thrashing the skins like nobody's business. Alabama – come-California soulster Austin Hanks roughs up the riffs with his left-handed six-string electric. Have mercy!" Gibbons himself shares harmonica duties with James Harman. "James is the fastidiously fierce follower of the real deal when it comes to blowing' the harp."

"It's no secret there are several favorites from the way-back starting with not one, but two, from the Bo Diddley catalogue [‘Bring It to Jerome,' ‘Crackin' Up']," Gibbons adds. "We dusted off an old Gretsch Duo-Jet guitar, which put it squarely with that infamous Bo Diddley sound. Once covered, we made way into another side – a much earlier number from Muddy Waters, ‘Standing Around Crying.' The ragged edges with the meanness of James' bad self on harp seemed to fit the bill to enter the line-up."