From the Archives: Billy Bob's Rocks!
It's more than just country-western; it's rock 'n' roll, blues and big bands, too.
The club was sold out, and many more waited outside Billy Bob's Texas on a hot summer night in 2006. Inside, Ted Nugent – the Motor City Madman, as he's also known – was grinding out some of the most blistering riffs in history: "Wango Tango," "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Stranglehold" with brute force and a tail pinned to the back of his jeans. The fans were yelling, clapping and dancing in the aisles. It was loud. Very, very loud.
Billy Bob's Texas, one of the foremost venues for country music in the world, also has a rich history of hosting rock and other non-country acts. There have been rock bookings since the club began. In fact, Dr. Hook and Medicine Show was the first rock act to play the club – only four weeks after its grand opening on April 27, 1981.
Rhythm and blues legend Ray Charles played the club in December, as did Head East, bluesman Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and "That Little Ol' Band from Texas," ZZ Top. Since then, artists like Gregg Allman, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, James Brown, The Pointer Sisters, Styx, REO Speedwagon and Cheap Trick have also performed. And the list goes on. The club was even one of Australian band Men at Work's six U.S. tour stops in 1983.
The venue has even hosted a Beatle.
Ringo Starr, a longtime fan of Billy Bob's, played the club with his All Starr Band in 2001. Starr was a fan of country music, even covering Buck Owens' songs in The Beatles, and he excitedly showed Pam Minick his collection of Western shirts on a 2005 visit. The Beach Boys have played at the club three times, and acts like Uncle Kracker, who played in November 2010, claim many of the country artists who have played Billy Bob's for years – Willie Nelson among many others – as influences. The gap between country music fans and rock music fans is now a narrow one, with pioneering Billy Bob's regulars like Hank Williams Jr. and David Allan Coe leading the way. Billy Bob's concertgoers love REO Speedwagon and Pat Green or Merle Haggard and George Thorogood. As long as the music is true, the fans will respond.
So what makes Billy Bob's, a name synonymous with the cream of the country music crop, such a popular place for non-country acts to play? Ted Nugent, who now lives in Texas and has played Billy Bob's since 2005, said the passion for music that surrounds the club makes it a great place for bands to play. "There's an energy level at Billy Bob's that really inspires my band to play," Nugent said.
And then there is the audience. Billy Bob's is the home of serious fans who love music – be it country or rock – and want to see a great show. And with the audience and performer so close they can look each other in the eye, Nugent said, the connection is unmistakable. "Billy Bob's is the ultimate venue where there's no fluff," Nugent said. "It is the ultimate audience for me and my band to put our heart and soul into every second, every riff, every intro... This is the heart and soul of America personified by the heart and soul of Texas."
ZZ Top performing in San Antonio, Texas. Photo by Ralph Arvesen
“ZZ Top in Reverse”
Billy Gibbons recalls the little ol' band from Texas' Billy Bob's debut.
“Over the years we've had several opportunities to be part of the world known as Billy Bob's. The first of these encounters certainly stands out. ZZ Top played there Dec. 28, 1981. We were between stadium and arena gigs and thought it would be refreshing to "come down to earth," so to speak. We figured that Billy Bob's Texas stood to be just the ticket for that kind of ground-level situation.
In lieu of performing the organized ZZ Top song set of the era, we set about doing the one thing specific and appropriate for the iconic Billy Bob's Texas. In light of it all, we set about delivering a couple of high-powered country & western numbers – hard country, at that! Commencing with the Johnny Cash standard, "Folsom Prison Blues" and, of course, charging right into the crowd favorite, Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee."
Dusty took off with it immediately, although it took some persuasion to our fair percussionist, Frank Beard, a dyed-in-wool rock drummer, to go along with the concept. The result certainly highlighted an exercise in surrealism – surrealism of the highest order! The audience and band alike had a great time experiencing what we've come to think of as "ZZ Top in reverse."
In more recent years, yours truly guested with Billy Bob Thornton when his Boxmasters group appeared. That, like the ZZ Top sets there, was nothing short of memorable. Billy Bob, as you may recall, was the drummer in a ZZ Top cover/tribute band called "Fandango" and our joining in was a case of life imitating art imitating life imitating art times infinity. This could only have happened at Billy Bob's, oh yeah!”
