HALL OF FAMER’S ZZ TOP RETURN TO LOVELAND
(Loveland, CO) - Rock and Rock Hall of Famer’s, ZZ Top’s RAW WHISKY TOUR announced a tour stop at the Blue Arena at The Ranch on June 21, 2022. The first leg of the tour starts May 27th in San Diego, CA, and will see the band on stage in 50 markets across North America. The tour’s title is a hat tip to both the forthcoming album as well as the recent release of ZZ Top Tres Hombres whisky from Balcones Distilling of Waco TX, a flavorful 100 proof mash bill of roasted blue corn, malted barley and rye.
ZZ Top are recording a new album titled RAW that 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.
The album’s title is derived from the unfettered and straightforward manner in which the tracks were recorded. As seen in the film, the band members played, for the most part, together within sight of each other in the course of one day. The methodology employed was something of an homage to the way ZZ Top recorded at the start of its epic five plus decades run at the pinnacle of rock’s pantheon. Billy F. Gibbons served as producer with engineering by Jake Mann and Gary Moon; RAW was mixed by Ryan Hewitt. The album’s twelve tracks recall the very beginning of the band’s recording career (“Brown Sugar” and “Certified Blues” from ZZ Top’s First Album) and include many of their major hits (“Legs,” “Tush,” “LaGrange,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’”) with a definite blues skew (“Blue Jean Blues,” “Just Got Paid,” “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”) as well as some up-tempo house rockers (“Tube Snake Boogie,” “Thunderbird”).
RAW will be released July 22nd by Shelter Records/BMG on 180 gram vinyl, CD and through digital platforms and is dedicated “In righteous memory of Dusty Hill.”
Tickets for ZZ TOP go on sale this Friday, March 11th at 10 a.m. (MST). Tickets are available online at BudweiserEventsCenter.com, or in-person at the Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies Box Office, at the Blue Arena. For more information visit BudweiserEventsCenter.com
About The Ranch, Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex
The Ranch, Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex, located in Loveland, Colorado, opened in 2003 and is owned and operated by Larimer County. The Ranch consists of the Blue Arena, the Ranch-Way Feeds Indoor Arena and Livestock Pavilions, the FNB Exhibition Halls, and the Thomas M. McKee 4-H Youth & Community Building. The Ranch hosts more than 2,000 events annually and is home to the Larimer County Fair and PRCA Rodeo. For more information, visit www.TREventsComplex.com