Danbury, CT (May 16, 2011)

ZZ Top’s upcoming Summer Tour includes a party stop at the Ives Concert Park in Danbury, CT on Thursday, August 25th. 

 Tickets for the show, which are $67 reserved, $57 reserved, $47 reserved, and $37 lawn, will go on sale Friday, May 20th at 10 a.m. at www.premierboxoffice.com or 1-866-55-tickets.  

ZZ Top has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide,  The band scored 8 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, six number one Mainstream Rock hits, and three MTV Video Music Awards.

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Eliminator, released in March 1983, featured two Top 40 singles ("Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs"), four Mainstream Rock hits (including "Got Me Under Pressure" and "Sharp Dressed Man").

In 2008, ZZ Top performed "Sharp Dressed Man" with David Cook at the season 7 finale of American Idol.

ZZ TOP a/k/a “That Little Ol’ Band From Texas,” lay undisputed claim to being the longest running major rock band with original personnel intact and in 2004 the Texas trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course, there are only three of them – Billy F Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard-- but it’s still a remarkable achievement that they’re still very much together after more than 40 years of rock, blues, and boogie on the road and in the studio.  “Yeah,” says Billy, guitarist extraordinaire, “we’re the same three guys, bashing out the same three chords.”  With the release of each of their albums the band has explored new ground in terms of both their sonic approach and the material they’ve recorded. ZZ TOP is the same but always changing.The elements that keep ZZ TOP fresh, enduring and above the transitory fray can be summed up in the three words of the band’s internal mantra: “Tone, Taste and Tenacity.”  Of course, the three members of the band have done their utmost to do their part in assuring that ZZ TOP prevails.  As genuine roots musicians, the members of the band have few peers. 

Billy is widely regarded as one of American finest blues guitaristsworking in the rock idiom.  His influences are both the originators of the form – Muddy Waters, B.B. King, et al – as well as the British blues rockers who emerged the generation before ZZ’s ascendance.  In his early days of playing, no less an idol that Jimi Hendrix singled him out for praise. Part mad scientist, part prankster, he’s a musical innovator of the highest order.

Dusty has long had an affinity for rock’s origins; his earliest performances as a child included Elvis songs convincingly performed.  Not only is he a bass virtuoso in his own right, his vocal prowess is awe-inspiring.  He’s the lead voice you hear on “Tush” and his ferocious vocals are heard, to great effect, on “Piece” on the new album. Good natured and diligent, Dusty is the rock solid bottom of ZZ TOP.

Frank has also been keeping the beat in that great tradition.  As both a roots and progressive drummer, he has been acknowledged as key to the band’s powerful on-stage and in-studio presence. He and Dusty, in their early years together, served as Lightnin’ Hopkins’ rhythm section which, as Frank tells it, was a life changing experience.  Frank, despite his last name, is the guy in the band without a beard.  But when you’re with him, you’re with a Beard.  He’s a rockin’ paradox who provides the pulse of ZZ TOP.ZZ TOP’s music is always instantly recognizable, eminently powerful, profoundly soulful and 100% Texas American in derivation. 

The band’s support for the blues is unwavering both as interpreters of the music and preservers of its legacy.  It was ZZ TOP that celebrated “founding father” Muddy Waters by turning a piece of scrap timber than had fallen from his sharecropper’s shack into a beautiful guitar, dubbed the “Muddywood.”  This totem was sent on tour as a fundraising focus for The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, site of Robert Johnson’s famed “Crossroads” encounter with the devil.  ZZ TOP’s support and link to the blues remains as rock solid as the music they continue to play. 

ZZ Top have officially been designated as Heroes of The State of Texas, have been referenced in countless cartoons and sitcoms and are true rock icons but, against all odds, they’re really just doing what they’ve always done. 

They’re real and they’re surreal and they’re ZZ TOP...and they are going to be in Danbury.

 Mayor Mark Boughton's concert twitter hahstag #iamasharpeddressman 

Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am at www.premierboxoffice.com, or by calling 1-866-55-tickets.   Information can also be found at www.ivesconcertpark.com, and on Facebook by hitting the "like" for  Ives Concert Park.