I got probably less shit about having blue hair than about having long hair, because I believe they thought I was crazy.

вЂњI was with a group called the American Blues, and at that time we had long, blue hair вЂ“ in the 60s in Texas. вЂњBeing a musician in Texas had its own set of risks,вЂќ he told me. And when Hill started playing music in the 1960s, that act alone was enough to mark him as an outsider in the Lone Star State. Instead, they were Texans, with everything that conveyed: part traditional, part contrary, and part of the deep seam of Texas weirdness that stretched from the 13th Floor Elevators through to the Butthole Surfers. Hill and ZZ Top came from the blues, but neither Hill nor the band were the simple 12-bar boogiers they were often portrayed as. And, perhaps even more importantly, the pair came as a double act, not just by looking so similar they could be mistaken for one another but also in the perfect, minimalist choreography of their stage show (вЂњLow energy, high impact,вЂќ as Hill described it to me, later that afternoon in Maryland). He sang lead or co-lead on several of ZZ TopвЂ™s best loved songs вЂ“ his high, true tenor a contrast to GibbonsвЂ™ radioactive growl вЂ“ and his bass tone was every bit as crucial to their sound as GibbonsвЂ™ guitar. But Hill, who died in his sleep aged 72, was just as important.

Gibbons tended to be the focus of attention: he was the guitarist he took most of the lead vocals he was the bandвЂ™s great and delightful eccentric. вЂњBilly, can I get a photo with you?вЂќ But Dusty Hill clearly didnвЂ™t like being mistaken for Billy Gibbons, who stood a few feet away from him on stage with ZZ Top for more than 50 years, and he walked away without a word. In 2012, backstage at a strange festival in Maryland, I watched as drunk twentysomethings walked up to a man with a vast beard, eyes hidden behind shades.

D usty Hill was evidently used to being mistaken for someone else.

Woman on back of zz top greatest hits