ZZ Top will host the La Grange Fest, their very own music festival, later this month in Austin, TX and they have announced another special guest: Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor. Here is the official word with the details:The ZZ Top- hosted music festival is set for Saturday, October 22 at Austin's The Backyard. Featured with ZZ Top are Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jamey Johnson. Just added to the show, for a very special acoustic set, is Slipknot/Stone Sour lead vocalist, Corey Taylor.
Taylor is the multiplatinum selling, New York Times best-selling author and Grammy Award winning singer/ songwriter in two of the most successful bands in rock music today. Rumor has it he may even join ZZ for a song or two.
The event is a general admission show which promises to perpetuate the ZZ Top tradition of raucous revelry set to a down 'n dirty beat. La Grange Fest is presented by "our good friends" at Jeremiah Weed. La Grange Fest takes its name from the band's ode to the Texas town that was home to the notorious "Chicken Ranch," later the subject of the musical "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas".
Billy Gibbons, discussing the forthcoming show, noted, "We're looking forward to having a good time with all of our friends and fans on the 22nd. Down Austin way is gonna be the place to be that day, doncha know…" La Grange Fest reconnects ZZ Top with its Texas roots and legacy quite specifically. Just this year the band received the Texas Cultural Trust's 2011 Texas Medal of the Arts and was previously named "Official Texas Heroes" by the state's House of Representatives. The Texas Commission on the Arts has named Billy Gibbons as 2012 Texas State Musician.
This coming week marks the release of A Tribute From Friends, an album of ZZ Top music by some of the band's most ardent admirers including Nickelback who cover "Legs" most fittingly, Daughtry ("Waitin For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago") and La Grange Fest star Jamey Johnson who tackles none other than "La Grange" on the album. They are joined by Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Jonny Lang and Steven Tyler, who have recorded "Sharp Dressed Man" as The M.O.B. for the project while Grace Potter & The Nocturnals put their special touch on "Tush." Other participating artists & friends include Filter ("Gimme All Your Lovin'"), Wolfmother ("Cheap Sunglasses") and Duff McKagan's Loaded who contribute "Got Me Under Pressure." There's also "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" from Coheed & Cambria, "Just Got Paid" by Mastodon and Wyclef Jean's take on "Rough Boy." The album, to be released by Show Dog/Universal Music on October 11, is testimony to the enduring influence of ZZ Top who issued a statement expressing their delight that their "music resonates with these great musicians whom we so admire."
