Bassist For Texas Rock Legends Doesn’t Want To Play Bass

It's not that he doesn't want to play bass for the band any longer, he just doesn't want to play one particular bass any longer. He has to though ...

Elwood Francis became the bassist for ZZ Top following the passing of original bassist Dusty Hill in 2021. He stepped into Dusty's shoes at the request of Dusty himself.

He still feels a little weird taking the stage which I totally get. Despite the love of his bandmates and an incredibly warm, loving welcome from ZZ Top's fans; Dusty's shadow looms large.

Elwood was no stranger to ZZ Top when he got the gig, he'd been taking care of their guitars forever. He's also worked for many others and has his own band. The ZZ Top gig was special though and, as part of the family, it was only right for him to pick up where Dusty left off.

Fast forward a couple of years and, late one night, Elwood sees an ad for a beast of a bass. A 17 string monster that he thought would be cool to have. Elwood suggested they order one, pull it out on stage as a gag and then, that would be that. Billy agreed but now, for poor Elwood, the joke's not funny anymore.

This thing is heavy, clunky and WAY hard to play. The crowds reaction to seeing it though was incredible ... the video went viral and now the fans expect to see it every night. So, now poor Elwood has to play it every night.

“I thought it was over, but the son of a bitch went viral, and I woke up to all these messages and links to all this f***ing bulls**t,” he says.

“Now that I got this reaction, Billy’s never going to let me not play it.’ I was thinking, ‘If I can just get through this… it’s just one song, and I’ll never have to play it again.’ But now I’ve got to play it [every night].” - guitarworld.com