For those unaware, Raw was recorded in connection with the band’s wildly popular and critically lauded 2019 Netflix documentary That Little Ol’ Band From Texas.

The Grammy-nominated feature from Banger Films and director Sam Dunn includes an interlude that finds the group’s classic line up - Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and the late Dusty Hill - gathering for a very intimate session at Gruene Hall, “the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas.”

That performance provided the basis for the RAW album release.

Side A:
1. Brown Sugar
2. Just Got Paid
3. Heard It On The X
4. La Grange
5. Tush
6. Thunderbird

Side B:
7. I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
8. Legs
9. Gimme All Your Lovin’
10. Blue Jean Blues
11. Certified Blues
12. Tube Snake Boogie

The album, released through Shelter Records/BMG and available now, opens on the, at first, slow poke roll and then soon thereafter, the rambunctious blues rock of Brown Sugar (penned by Billy F Gibbons, and thus should not be mistaken for the Rolling Stones song of the same title; the latter of which was actually released three months after ZZ Top’s first album) and the sturdy guitar rock of Just Got Paid (from their 1972 album Rio Grande Mud), and backs those up with the duel-sung Heard It On The X, which made its debut in 1975 as part of ZZ Top’s fourth album Fandango!

Up next is La Grange, a little ditty about a “shack outside La Grange” that was mostly known as the Chicken Ranch, although it was a Texas brothel open from 1905 to 1973, and that is followed by Tush and the slow blues crawl of Thunderbird, both from the aforementioned Fandango! album, although the former was the only single released from it, and then the first side rounds out with the melodic blues of I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide (a song inspired by Texas bluesman Joey Long) and from their brilliant Degüello album.

The second side opens on the beloved pairing of MTV favorites, and softer AOR of both Legs and Gimme All Your Lovin,’ from their now-infamous Eliminator album, and then this excellently crafted, rawly recorded album continues onward with another track from Fandango!, the blues balladry of Blue Jean Blues; where the realness of the lyrics, coupled with the imagery of the covered oil and gasoline, work day pants, much like the titular pair of blue jeans in the tune, are brought vividly, if not achingly to life, the album rounding out on their earthy Certified Blue (from First Album - yup, that was it’s title - from 1971), coming to a righteous close on Tube Snake Boogie; which debuted in 1981 as part of their El Loco album and is still one of their most enduring in-concert favorites to-date.

The classic honky-tonk setting of Gruene Hall established back in 1878, was chosen for an unfettered, roots-oriented recording session that is chronicled in the documentary. Released by Banger Films, the feature offers insight into the history of the band’s classic Gibbons/Beard/Hill incarnation.

The new album’s liner notes by Gibbons and Beard note of the RAW sessions, “..it was, in a very real way, a return to our roots. Just us and the music, no audience of thousands, no concession stands, no parking lot social hour, no phalanx of tour buses. Just us. We knew right then it was a very special circumstance, all of us in the same place at the same time, and what a time it most certainly was!”

Gibbons commented, “The Director suggested we find a way to illustrate the early style from the start of our five-plus decades run. Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas, was selected as a fitting backdrop to replicate the look of the band’s very beginnings. When we arrived, we were surprised to see that all our gear had been transported there so, as cameras rolled, we picked up the instruments and commenced an unplanned jam session.”

“Fortunately, our stage engineers were on hand with tape machines in place to capture the performances that went down. That became, in essence, the soundtrack to the film and now it’s also an audio document of ZZ Top’s early beginnings. Still going strong today.”

Gibbons continues, “Our director suggested going back to what it was like when we first started recording in our early days: the band in the studio together in a mostly unfettered way. We were quite comfortable in the room as heard on the tracks, with that level of branded intimacy.”

RAW’s 12 tracks include “Certified Blues” which was originally heard on ZZ Top’s First Album as well as “La Grange,” the band’s 1973 breakthrough, and “Tush,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Legs” and other eternal ZZ Top song catalog standouts.

The album was captured in one day, keeping the whole process simple and straightforward. A nod to the band’s early days. Billy F Gibbons served as producer, with engineering by Jake Mann and G.L. G-Mane Moon; RAW was mixed by Ryan Hewitt. It is available on 180-gram vinyl, CD, and digital platforms.

Official Raw Vinyl LP Purchase Link

Official Website