The year-end single-artist auction will take place in Dallas
Julien’s Auctions proudly presents The Collection fo Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, a three-day auction event honoring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bass legend of one of the best-selling acts and biggest touring bands of all time, who sold over 50 million albums worldwide. The year-end single artist event culminating the auction house’s 20th anniversary celebration will take place on December 7-9, live at the legendary musician and vocalist’s birthplace of Dallas, Texas at the auction venue 915 Slocum and online at Julien’s Live.
The auction will feature nearly 1,200 lots showcasing the rock icon’s spectacular one-of-a-kind instruments, custom western-style wardrobe worn on stage and in appearances, gear, creative documents, signature style items such as his favorite cowboy hats, boots and buckles, memorabilia, and more from his groundbreaking five-decade career coming directly from Dusty Hill’s personal collection. A portion of the auction proceeds will benefit MusiCares and its mission to help the humans behind music because music gives so much to the world. Offering preventive, emergency, and recovery programs, MusiCares is a safety net supporting the health and welfare of the music community.
From ZZ Top’s auspicious beginnings in the early 1970s to their breakthrough superstardom and era-defining MTV videos in the 1980s and massively successful tours in the 20th to 21st century playing in sold-out arenas all over the world, founding member, bassist, vocalist and keyboard player, Dusty Hill powered the trio to the rock and roll greatness and pop cultural strata that put the Texas blues-rock sound on the map.
Born May 19th, 1949 in Dallas, Texas, Joe Michael “Dusty” Hill began singing with his older brother Rocky at the age of eight and grew up listening to the blues. He switched from playing cello to bass at the age of 13 playing in local bars with various Dallas bands until 1968 when Hill relocated to Houston. There he teamed up with his former bandmate/drummer Frank Beard and guitarist-vocalist Billy Gibbons and the legendary lineup of ZZ Top was born. In 1971, the band released their debut, ZZ Top’s First Album and follow-up albums Rio Grande Mud and Tres Hombres, which produced their first big hit single “La Grange” and led to their opening act gig for the Rolling Stones in Hawaii. Hill sang lead vocal on ZZ Top’s 1975 hit single “Tush” as well as on the singles “Pan Am Highway Blues,” “Avalon Hideaway,” and “Ten Dollar Man” on their 1976 album Tejas as well as on the duet “It’s Only Love” with Gibbons.
In the late 70s, Hill changed his look by growing matching long beards and wearing sunglasses and hats with Gibbons and the styling trio topped the charts with their hit single “Cheap Sunglasses” from their 1979 Degüello album. But it was 1983’s Eliminator that catapulted ZZ Top into superstardom with the album’s trifecta of monster hits, “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” and “Legs.” The songs dominated the airwaves and television screens with their accompanying iconic music videos featuring ZZ Top’s signature ZZ keychain, video vixens, and the red Eliminator Coupe hot rod that captured the MTV generation and cemented Hill and his bandmates as pop culture icons. The RIAA diamond-certified album sold over 10 million copies and stayed on the Billboard charts for 183 weeks and the songs continue to play in heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations to this day. In their videos and on-stage, Hill and Gibbons’ matching appearances, playing sensational custom-made guitars that would spin, along with their humorous song lyrics and hard-driving live performances charged by Hill’s raw bass lines and the band’s New Wave flavor with Hill on synthesizer keyboards, became the trio’s trademark look, sound and personality that would distinguish them from other rock and roll acts then and now.
During Hill’s remarkable 50-year career playing solely with ZZ Top’s original band members, the trio released 15 studio albums, including 1985’s Afterburner which went platinum five times over, and the platinum 1990 album Recycler and platinum 1994 album Antenna. Hill has appeared in the films, Back to the Future Part III and Mother Goose Rock ‘N” Rhyme and has played himself on TV’s King of the Hill and The Drew Carey Show. Hill was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with ZZ Top in 2004. In July 2021, Hill passed away at the age of 72.
The headlining item of the auction will be one of the most instantly recognizable instruments in pop culture history: Hill’s fur bass guitar played on ZZ Top’s iconic “Legs” music video. The 1983 Dean Explorer style bass, in sheepskin finish with ZZ Top logo painted on the fretboard, was attached to a rig worn around Hill’s waist to make it spin. Dean Zelinsky of Dean Guitars who created the instruments, wrote about them on his website’s blog stating that he received a 3 am phone call from Billy Gibbons while ZZ Top was on tour in the UK. At the very end of their conversation Billy said to Zelinsky, “I’m sending you some sheepskins I purchased while in Scotland, I want you to put them on some guitars.” Weeks later, the sheepskins were delivered and Zelinsky made a matching pair of Dean Z guitar and bass, painted them white including the fingerboards with the Eliminator album logo down the necks and applied the sheepskins. “I remember we were still gluing the fur on the tuning keys when the FedEx driver showed up to pick up the guitars,” said Zelinsky. “He waited while we boxed them up, they had to make it to the video shoot the very next day.”
Another incredible offering is Hill’s signature 1953 Fender Precision bass guitar, and most played instrument by Hill out of all the guitars in this collection (estimate: $80,000 – $120,000). The bass was heavily used by Hill and served as his go-to stage guitar for numerous ZZ Top live performances and in the studio until Dusty retired the bass in 2012 due to road wear. This instrument in butterscotch finish with black pickguard in all original 7/10 condition, appeared on the cover of ZZ Top’s 1975 album Fandango! and comes in its period tweed case with a great deal of wear and an assortment of stickers.
Additional highlights include an MTV Moonman award statuette presented to Hill for Best Group Video “Legs” at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards ceremony held in 1984; Hill’s bald eagle jacket by Manuel with talons and feather accents down sleeves, accented with prong-set stones, with personalized “Dusty Hill” Manuel label ($6,000 – $8,000); Hill’s black leather motorcycle jacket with custom painted skeleton motif, eagle head pins on lapel, and silver spike embellishments with “Streek Landslide” written on the back ($1,500 – $2,500); Hill’s Matt Hackett belt buckle with silver Texas lone star accents and Mexican dos pesos coin on a Justin Boots brown tooled leather belt ($2,000 – $3,000); a black snap front western style shirt custom made by Manuel with personalized Dusty Hill label ($1,500 – $2,500); Hill’s stage-worn limited edition pair Manuel black and white leather cowboy boots in soft travel case ($2,000 – $3,000); and more.
