Billy Gibbons subject of Nashville tribute

Eric Church, Lucinda Williams and others set to pay tribute

Billy Gibbons is the subject of an all-star Nashville tribute next month. America Salutes You presents “A Tribute To Billy Gibbons,” a live show from the Grand Ole Opry House on Sunday, May 16th. This is a benefit concert supporting the military, veterans and first responder charities and will recognize and celebrate Billy Gibbons’ outstanding career. Brad Paisley, Dennis Quaid, Eric Church, Jimmie Vaughan, Larkin Poe, Lucinda Williams, Ronnie Milsap, Travis Tritt, Tim Montana, Guthrie Trapp and other surprise guests will be performing. The live audience will be at reduced capacity and socially distanced. The concert will be from 7:30-9:30 pm CT. Tickets will be on sale on the Grand Ole Opry House website beginning April 23rd.

“What an honor it is for the America Salutes You benefit concert series 2021 to kick off at the historic Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville honoring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top for his 50+ years of amazing entertainment and philanthropic work,” comments Bob Okun, Executive Producer, America Salutes You. “This live to tape broadcast show will be distributed nationally to raise awareness and funds for the best in class non-profit charities assisting our front line heroes.”

One hundred percent of the public donations will be made to non-profits including ThanksUSA, CreatiVets, the USO, First Responders Children‘s Foundation. Returning sponsors include: Walgreens, Verizon Media, Amazon, Medstar Health, KLOVE Media, The Center for Discovery, The Davis Elkins Foundation with more to be announced.

Bob Okun is the Executive Producer of this event and the annual nationally televised Guitar Legends concert series. Award-winning producer and filmmaker Martin Guigui is the Music Director. Evan Haiman is the TV Producer. Tisha Fein is the Producer.

The house band features guitarist Audley Freed, drummer Fred Eltringham, bassist Mike Merritt, a horn section, and led by pianist and music director Martin Guigui.

The ZZ Top frontman will release his third solo album, Hardware, on June 4th via Concord Records. The album was recorded at Escape Studio in California’s high desert, near Palm Springs, and was produced by Gibbons along with Matt Sorum and Mike Fiorentino with engineer Chad Shlosser providing additional production. The album’s release is preceded by the release of the single “West Coast Junkie” on March 26th. The video for the track was filmed near Joshua Tree, a stone’s throw from the studio.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com