Album of the Day

Having gotten their feet wet on their debut album a year earlier, 1972’s RIO GRANDE MUD shows ZZ Top wading further into original material. “We started documenting events as they happened to us on the road; all of these elements went into the songwriting notebook,” remarked guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons, who has a credit on all ten of these tracks. “Just Got Paid,” “Bar-B-Q” and single “Francine” (one of two numbers sung by bassist Dusty Hill) show the Texas trio perfecting the roadhouse blues-rock that would soon make them stars, with a heavier, driving sound enabled by producer Bill Ham. While the collection peaked just outside of Billboard’s Top 100, RIO GRANDE MUD showed all the elements that would put ZZ Top into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were now in place.