Everyone who followed rock & roll over the last fifty years knows the irony of Frank Beard. Hell, even the most casual fan would laugh upon learning that the ZZ Top drummer with he surname Beard was the one member of the band who did not sport Rip Van Winkle facial hair. Beard could be scruffy. He often had a moustache, but there was no beard on the man named Beard.
In reality the long beards sported by guitarist Billy Gibbons and bass player Dusty Hill weren’t exactly original equipment either. To the best of my faulty memory, Hill always had at least something on his chin while Gibbons was clean shaven in the band's early years. As for Beard, in those early days, he was a regular long-haired country boy.
The iconic look would come later, in the late ‘70s. And Beard wasn’t totally immune. He may not have worn it on his person – there was no beard, no cowboy hat, no fur-trimmed guitar – but his drum kit was usually interesting to look at. Fortunately for rock and blues fans, it was even more interesting to hear.
ZZ Top’s Frank Beard dies at 77
It was well-known that Beard was in poor health of late. ZZ Top – with Elwood Francis playing bass after Dusty Hill’s death in 2021 – had to cancel parts of tours in recent years. A couple of replacement drummers sat behind the kit while Beard was laid up, but he had been able to rejoin the band and play until very recently.
But his illness eventually caught up with him. Frank Beard died on August 17, He was 77.
Beard had been playing with Hill in the band American Blues when they decided to team up with Gibbons and form a blues rock power trio. It was one of many incarnations of bands that Beard played with early in his career. There is a story about him and Hill touring as the classic British rock band the Zombies after the real band broke up in the late ‘60s.
That’s a hard one to imagine because if you ever heard Frank Beard speak, “British” would not be the first thing that popped into your head. Beard, like his bandmates, was Texas through and through.
It’s also hard to imagine, given how all three of them had bounced around in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, that Beard, Hill or Gibbons could have possibly predicted the kind of success they would have as ZZ Top.
Their first couple of albums earned them a strong cult following. If you wanted no-frills blues rock in the early ‘70s, no one did it better. Then, in 1973, with the release of Tres Hombres and its popular single “La Grange,” ZZ Top hit the big time.
They would remain a force in rock & roll well into the ‘80s, scoring top ten hits with “”Legs” and “Sleeping Bag.” Some old fans bristled at the use of synthesizers and drum machines on their bigger pop rock hits, but the boys liked what they were doing, and they had never had so much success.
You don’t usually find Frank Beard’s name when you scroll through the internet looking for “best drummer” lists. Everyone knows he was good, but Gibbons was the clear leader of the band. He and Hill stood downstage and did those nerdy/cool dance steps and had the fur on their guitars. That’s what you watched.
Frank Beard was what you heard … and what you felt.
Anyone who has ever played in a power trio will tell you that the drums are what makes or breaks the band. You may notice the guitar player, and a great bassist can elevate a good band to something special.
But the drums are a prerequisite. If you don’t have the drummer, you don’t have a band.
Go back to the early days, before the drum machine era, and you will hear the drummer, laying down top-flight grooves that allowed Gibbons’ guitar to explore wherever it wanted. Songs like “Heard it on the X,” “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” and especially “Just Got Paid” - Frank Beard was the foundation for so many great blues rockers.
ZZ Top continued touring after Hill’s death and they have announced that they will continue now that Beard is gone. Gibbons has said they all agreed the band should live on as long as possible. No immediate word on whether Mike Monahan, formerly the drummer with Annie Dukes out of Jacksonville, will stay on as a permanent replacement.
He had been filling in during Beard’s recent absences.
As long as Gibbons is still wailing away out front, ZZ Top will live on. Francis and Monahan – if he does stay on in a permanent capacity – can play. They will sound like ZZ Top. But it won’t be quite the same. It has nothing to do with the beards.
It’s the vibe. The groove. The magical alchemy of long-time bandmates playing music together. Frank Beard was an integral part of some of the very best American rock & roll of the past half century. That beat will be missed.
Add us as a preferred source on Google