For those unaware, although I cannot imagine there are too many, Hardware, the widely anticipated third solo album from ZZ Top front man Billy F. Gibbons hits this week with official release set for Friday, June 4th, 2021.

The album, recorded during the heat of last summer in the high desert near Joshua Tree, CA includes a total of 12 tracks, 11 of which were written by Billy and collaborators for the album plus Hey Baby, Que Paso, the Texas Tornados classic.

The album release has been preceded by three videos to date including My Lucky Number, Desert High and West Coast Junkie, and a fourth video, She is On Fire, will be out June 10th, 2021.

All were shot on location by Texas filmmaker Harry Reese while the album was in production.

Side A:
1. My Lucky Card
2. She Is On Fire
3. More-More-More
4. Shuffle, Step & Slide
5. Vagabond Man
6. Spanish Fly

Side B:
7. West Coast Junkie
8. Stackin Bones (featuring Larkin Poe)
9. I Was A Highway
10. S-G-L-M-B-B-R
11. Hey Baby, Que Paso
12. Desert High

This vibrantly authentic, and hypnotizingly magnificent third solo album from Gibbons opens on the slow poke, southern rock guitar rumble of My Lucky Card, the faster-paced She Is On Fire and backs those both up seamlessly with the ZZ Top-imbibed guitars of More-More-More, the tube snake boogie of Shuffle, Step & Slide, the grizzly ballad Vagabond Man, and then we get the low slung, midnight guitar licks of Spanish Fly.

Next up, as we flip the vinyl LP over, is the gently frenetic, tarmac-pounding West Coast Junkie and the finger-snapping, foot-tapping Stackin Bones (featuring Larkin Poe), and they are followed by the infectious blues soul rock of I Was A Highway, with the album rounding out on the gruff rocker S-G-L-M-B-B-R, the harmonica-driven, Texas Tornados cover Hey Baby, Que Paso, closing on the Robbie Robertson-esque, hot and dusty soundscape of Desert High.

Hardware follows The Big Bad Blues and Perfectamundo in Billy Gibbons solo canon. The album was produced by Gibbons along with Matt Sorum and Mike Florentino with engineer Chad Shlosser providing additional production.

Sorum, veteran of Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver and The Cult, also serves as the drummer of Hardware and was joined on the album by guitarist Austin Hanks.

The same Gibbons-Sorum-Hanks aggregation recorded The Big Bad Blues, his previous solo effort for Concord and winner of a Blues Foundations Blues Music Award.

Oh, and the new album title is a tribute to the late Joe Hardy, the beloved recording engineer who worked with Gibbons and ZZ Top on projects dating back to the mid-1980s.

Official Purchase Link

www.BillyGibbons.com

Billy F. Gibbons - My Lucky Card (Music Video)

Billy F. Gibbons - West Coast Junkie (Music Video)

Billy F. Gibbons - Desert High (Music Video)

Billy F. Gibbons @ Facebook

Billy F. Gibbons @ Instagram