Hotline Feature – Chris McKittrick: Frank Beard of ZZ Top, the Eliminator Legacy, and the Band's Future

Music author Chris McKittrick joins Dave Weekley to pay tribute to Frank Beard, the longtime drummer of ZZ Top, who passed away at 77 after a year away from touring with the band. McKittrick — who wrote Gimme All Your Lovin, a book about Billy Gibbons — breaks down what made Beard's drumming so essential to the band's sound, particularly his masterful shuffle on La Grange and his ability to adapt from the classic Texas blues of Tres Hombres to the synth-driven MTV era of Eliminator and Afterburner. The two discuss ZZ Top's carefully designed image of total unity — by design of manager Bill Ham — and how Frank Beard introduced Dusty Hill to Billy Gibbons, effectively forming the band's classic lineup. McKittrick places Eliminator in their top five albums and ranks ZZ Top among America's top ten classic rock bands for conquering two different eras of music with the same three-man lineup spanning more than five decades.