Keith Urban, Elle King, Chris Isaak, Robert Earl Keen, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram were just a few folks on hand to honor the 50-plus year career of one of music’s greats—ZZ Top’s founding member, Billy F Gibbons— on Monday night (Sept. 18). Gibbons was presented with the BMI Troubadour Award, which honors “songwriters who have made indelible impacts on the music world and remain a source of inspiration for subsequent generations of musicians.”
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Taking place at the BMI offices in Nashville, the private event kicked off with an outdoor cocktail hour where industry folks, friends, and artists, such as viral sensation Oliver Anthony, Matraca Berg, Kix Brooks, Jamey Johnson, Tim Montana, Molly Tuttle, and John Oates, mingled to share their favorite Gibbons stories. The event moved indoors where dinner was served and the celebration, hosted by BMI’s VP of Creative Clay Bradley, began.
Gibbons, who was seated at a front-row table witnessed the likes of Urban, King, Isaak, Ingram, and Keen performing ZZ Top’s classic songs. Kingfish kicked off the night with a sultry version of “Waitin’ for the Bus,” followed by Urban, who took on ZZ Top’s “Rough Boy.”
“It’s such an honor to be here tonight and to recognize your majesty, your gift, your creativity, your inspiration, and as somebody said earlier too, ‘It’s because you’re curious.’ Curiosity is key,” Urban said to Gibbons prior to his performance. “It’s like that Da Vinci expression, ‘He turns not back who is bound to a star.’ And that’s you, bound to the star.
He continued, “In the massive amount of songs we could pick from, I remember playing this in my cover band because the bones of it are so good, I picked this one [“Rough Boy”] tonight.”
Throughout the evening, congratulatory video messages from friends and collaborators, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan, and Van Wilks, along with Bill Bentley, George Gruhn, Greg Voros, and Tom Bukovac, played in succession.
King and her electric personality took the stage to rock out to “Gimme All Your Lovin'” and Isaak, who dressed in his sharpest duds, excited the crowd with “Sharp Dressed Man.”
“I’m nervous because I’m singing in front of a guy who can sing it better,” Isaak joked. “And who can play it better. That’s a nerve-wracking position. I want to say it’s an honor to get to play in front of you, no matter what happens.
“On a side note, When I started off making music a lot of people would mistake me for Billy Gibbons,” Isaak joked. “It was some years back but if you see us side by side you’d go, ‘Wow,’ he added.
Previous Troubadour recipient Robert Earl Keen closed out the night with the final performance of the band’s hit “La Grange.” BMI’s President and CEO Mike O’Neill and Bradley presented the award to Gibbons at the end of the laid-back celebratory evening.
“BMI has been fortunate enough to have Billy as part of our family for decades and his contributions to ZZ Top’s enduring success solidified their status as rock legends,” Bradley said. “His songwriting and artistic style transcend through many decades which was on full display last night.”
Check out photos from the special event, below.
Photos by Erika Goldring for BMI
