The Texas blues-rocker recorded his third record at Escape Studio in California’s high desert, near Palm Springs; the set was produced by Gibbons along with Matt Sorum and Mike Fiorentino with engineer Chad Shlosser providing additional production.
“Hardware”, which sees Gibbons joined by his live lineup of Sorum and guitarist Austin Hanks, delivers 11 new original tunes, a guest appearance by Larkin Poe, and a cover of “Hey Baby, Que Paso”, originally recorded by the Texas Tornados.
“We holed up in the desert for a few weeks in the heat of the summer and that in itself was pretty intense,” says Gibbons. “To let off steam we just ‘let it rock’ and that’s what ‘Hardware’ is really all about. For the most part, it’s a raging rocker but always mindful of the desert’s implicit mystery.
“The desert settings, replete with shifting sands, cacti and rattlesnakes makes for the kind of backdrop that lends an element of intrigue reflected in the sounds created out there.”
The album’s title is a tribute to legendary recording engineer the late Joe Hardy, who worked with Gibbons and ZZ Top dating back to the mid-1980s.
“Hardware” marks the follow-up to Gibbons’ 2018 album, “The Big Bad Blues”, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Americana/Folk chart and at No. 2 on the US Blues chart while also being named Blues Rock Album Of The Year at the 2019 Blues Music Awards.
See also:
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ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons releases Desert High video
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Search ZZ Top at hennemusic
