ZZ Top, Dwight Yoakam Bring Classic Songs to Arkansas on Dos Amigos Tour

by Julian Spivey

Aprille Hanson-Spivey Photo

It’s weird. ZZ Top isn’t a group I think would rank in my 100 favorite musical acts of all time, but they have been the one group I’ve been chasing longer than any to see live in concert. However, because of family outings or work or what have you there has always been something that comes up every time ZZ Top has been in my neck of the woods over the last 15-plus years that has kept me from seeing them.

When it was announced they would be co-headlining on the Dos Amigos Tour with one of my all-time favorite country music artists, Dwight Yoakam, and making a trip to the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Ark. on Friday, April 17, I knew this would likely be the last chance I had to see the group.

ZZ Top still sounds great, but it’s not really the same ZZ Top that became a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act, or the same one I had the chance to see in the past. Bassist and original band member Dusty Hill, one of the big-bearded duo up front on the stage, died in 2021.

Elwood Francis, who was Hill’s longtime guitar technician, replaced Hill and Hill’s request in the trio following his death.

Drummer Frank Beard, though technically still a member of the band, has missed time over the last few tours with ailments and injuries, and was not part of the Dos Amigos show in NLR on Friday. Michael Monahan filled in for Beard and did very well.

The band opened up Friday night’s show with a performance of “Got Me Under Pressure,” off what’s potentially their most well-known album, 1983’s Eliminator, with Francis playing a bright yellow 17-string bass that’s probably the most ridiculous-looking instrument I’ve ever seen performed live in concert. It was the only song in which the bass was used.

The classic blues-boogie rock band performed most of their hits on Friday night, the ones that made the band famous with their comical music videos on MTV back in the day, which featured scantily clad women and a famous 1933 Ford Coupe hot rod (the one on the Eliminator cover). These are the songs that I, as a novice ZZ Top fan, appreciated hearing – the kind you hear often on classic rock radio formats.

It was these Eliminator tracks I had the most fun hearing live, like “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Legs” and “Sharp Dressed Man,” but potentially my favorite ZZ Top song of the night was “Cheap Sunglasses,” which the band released four years prior on Degüello.

They, of course, played some of their standards from earlier in their career, like “Waitin’ for the Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” from 1973’s Tres Hombres, which I frankly should be more familiar with than I am. It was the stuff I was less familiar with in their repertoire that I struggled with during the show, as vocalist and guitarist Billy Gibbons’ growly, gravelly voice isn’t the easiest to hear over blaring instruments, and Gibbons, Francis and Monahan were louder as a trio than most live acts I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Other highlights from the band were their covers of the Sam & Dave classic “I Thank You” and the Merle Travis-written country standard, “Sixteen Tons,” which I’d certainly never heard performed in quite that way (though sans some of its original verses).

One of the disappointments of the set was the lack of collaboration with Yoakam, who had told the audience during his portion of the evening that he and Gibbons had considered doing this joint tour for years. Yoakam had memorably covered ZZ Top’s “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” for his 2004 covers album, Dwight’s Used Records, but when the band performed it on Friday night, he was nowhere to be seen.

ZZ Top ended the evening with a two-song encore that began with “Brown Sugar,” off the group’s 1971 debut aptly titled ZZ Top’s First Album, and finished with the epic “La Grange,” which might be their most famous song ever, and one of those that certainly was on my “to see live” concert bucket list.

Yoakam is an artist I’ve seen, I believe five times now, and had seen as recently as last September when he powered through food poisoning to finish a show in Jonesboro, Ark. He’s one of my all-time favorite live performers, and he was in great spirits on Friday night, with his frilly, rhinestone denim jacket and his side-to-side leg-shaking dance moves.

His set was remarkably similar to the one I’d seen in Jonesboro last year but was truncated a bit because this was a co-headlining tour.

Yoakam performed most of his “greatest hits,” some deep cuts that he must really love, like 2005’s “Blame the Vain,” which he performs often, and some newer stuff from his latest release, 2024’s Brighter Days.

Among my favorite performances were hits like “Guitars, Cadillacs,” “Streets of Bakersfield,” “Little Ways,” “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere” and “Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose,” which I’ve probably seen him do every time I’ve seen him live. They’re classics that just don’t get old.

A surprise from the show was hearing “Bury Me,” off his 1986 debut, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., one of the greatest country music albums ever, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last month. This was my live debut as a fan. It’d be nice to see Yoakam do his debut from start to finish sometime.

Yoakam finished his set with a rip-roaring performance of “Fast as You,” off his 1993 album This Time, much to the approval of the audience.

The night’s music kicked off right at 7 p.m. on the dot with a performance by country-rock band Southall out of Oklahoma. The music sounded good, but unfortunately, not being familiar with their work, I couldn’t make out much of what frontman Read Southall was singing, especially with the old folks behind me yakking it up the entire set after a day of day drinking.

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