Frank Beard: The Heartbeat of Texas Music (RIP)

It was always the wonder of ZZ Top that the only member of the band with the name “Beard” was the only guy not rockin’ one darn near to his belly button. No matter, ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard dripped cool like the other two hombres in the “Little ‘ol band from Texas.” Now though, there’s only one hombre left. The man behind the thunder cannons has moved on at the age of 77.

Just like the rest of ZZ Top, Frank Beard’s origin story involved more happenstance and accidental success than perseverance over adversity, or some impulse to leave a signature stamp on music. It was flying by the ass of his pants, and being consistently cast as the underdog and over succeeding that placed Frank Beard and his compadres Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Billy Gibbons might be the frontman, primary songwriter, and guitar player for the band, and Dusty Hill the co-frontman bass player and significant contributor to the songs. But if it wasn’t for Frank Beard introducing Dusty to Billy, ZZ Top might have never sang about that shack outside La Grange, or how a sharp dressed man gets all the chicks. Beard was playing in a band with Billy Gibbons called The Moving Sidewalks when he introduced Dusty Hill to Billy. Soon they were going under the name ZZ Top, and the both Dusty and Billy were swearing off razors.

Frank Beard was born in the tiny town of Frankston in East Texas on June 11th, 1949, but attended Irving High School near Dallas. Even back then, Dallas was the domain of cover bands, and Frank’s first claim to fame was playing in an unauthorized version of the British band The Zombies before they got busted. He eventually moved on to another band called Outlaws with Dusty Hill on bass. Both Frank and Dusty would eventually graduate to the band generically titled American Blues, which played psychedelic-inspired blues rock, and is considered a precursor to ZZ Top.

The rest, as they say, is history. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones took a shine to them, had them open some shows, and all off a sudden folks who knew their stuff were talking up this “little ‘ol band from Texas.” Early on that phrase was considered just as much a criticism as it was an endearment. Texas just wasn’t known for rock and roll, but ZZ Top would change that by leaning into their Texas personas and stereotypes, and because “La Grange” co-written by Frank Beard became a hit, sending Tres Hombres into the Billboard Top 10.

Any and all notions of just how “little” ZZ Top might be was dwarfed by the RIAA Diamond-certified success of their 1983 album Eliminator. The album is now considered a defining work of American music, and made ZZ Top household names to multiple generations—and at a time when ZZ Top had mostly been written off as a product of the roots rock ’70s.

Though Eliminator is considered a bedrock rock album, those that know the story behind it also know some of the controversy. Though Frank Beard and Dusty Hill were credited on the album, many, if not most of the rhythm parts were done with drum machines and synthesizers. When the band was asked to re-create the album on tour, Beard was forced to play along to click tracks and backing tracks to create the precise sounds.

But Frank Beard never complained. As he would say often, he was just happy they kept him along for the ride. When he struggled with alcohol and drugs, including heroin addiction in the late ’70s, he wasn’t replaced. ZZ Top took time off to give Frank the opportunity to go through rehabilitation.

When Dusty Hill died in 2021, Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons continued on with Elwood Francis filling in. Recently, health issues has sidelined Frank as well, taking him off the ZZ Top tour, and eventually to receiving hospice care at his Top 40 ranch in Richmond, TX, just outside of Houston. He died on August 17th, leaving Billy Gibbons as the lone surviving ZZ Top member. We’ll have to see if the band continues on with just Billy.

Maybe Frank Beard didn’t have one of those memorable ZZ Top beards. But will will be a very long time before Frank Beard goes forgotten.

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