The title of this post may be confusing. There is a great song that I like very much. It’s written by two other great Texas music artists, Jamie Richards and Walt Wilkins, called Privileges of Youth. You can listen to Jamie’s recording on Youtube here. The lyrics begin with:

“The boys and I used to pitch in for the gas and drive to Dallas”

It’s about a group of guys wanting to escape their small town (for me it was Gun Barrel City, TX), go to the big city and “meet a girl from SMU”.

In my youth we did that a lot (the driving, girl meeting not so much). Most weekends matter of fact. And that hourlong trip would usually be accompanied by blaring music from an 8 track tape of one of ZZ Top’s first three albums: The First Album, Rio Grande Mud, or Tres Hombres. Just those three because in 1973-74 those were the only ones released.

The soundtrack of our discovery of the privileges of youth was filled with this music. Yesterday Dusty Hill, 72, a founding memberof ZZ Top and rock and roll hero of mine passed peacefully in his sleep.

Texas Monthly’s Chris Vogner writes an excellent piece and calls Dusty, “ZZ Top’s Center of Gravity“. Quoting Chris: “that’s the end of ZZ Top as we knew them.”

And that could well be true. When your band has only three guys as recognizable as Billy, Frank, and Dusty who played together so long, it’s hard to just plug in another bass player.

Texas music, Rock & Roll, and modern Blues music have lost a great one.

Rest in Peace Dusty. Shaking your tree one last time.