Dusty Hill (3,974 views)

[Platypus]

Joseph Michael Hill (19.05.1949 - 28.07.2021)
Years Active: 1966 - 2021
Associated Acts: ZZ Top
Vocal Range: E2 - A5


Significant High Notes:
A5 ("Tush" live Toronto 1990)

G5 ("I Got The Six", "Party on the Patio", "Tush" Live Vinterträdgården 1983)

F♯5 ("Legs" RAW - That Little Ol' Band From Texas)
E5 ("Comin' Back Home", "Got me Under Pressure" live The Tube 1983, "Have You Heard?", "Hi-Fi Mama", "I Thank You" live in Germany 1980, "Legs" RAW - That Little Ol' Band From Texas, "Piece", "Jailhouse Rock" live in Germany 1980, "World of Swirl")
E♭5 ("Gimme All Your Lovin'" live The Tube 1983, "Sharp Dressed Man" Live In Texas, "Softly to the Sun", "Stop Breakin' Down Blues")
D5 ("Avalon Hideaway", "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers", "Can't Stop Rockin'", "Cherry Red", "Dipping Low (In the Lap of Luxury)", "Drive By Lover", "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Gun Love", "I Got the Message", "I Thank You" live in Germany 1980, "Threshold of a Breakdown", "Tush")
C♯5 ("I Got The Six", "Jesus Just Left Chicago", "Ten Dollar Man")
C5 ("Backdoor Medley", "Hi-Fi Mama", "Lovething", "Shady", "Squank", "Two Ways to Play)
B4 ("Antenna Head", "Captain Fire", "Chocolate Ego", "Comin' Back Home", "Concrete and Steel", "Deal Goin' Down", "Delirious", "Don't Tease Me", "Fuzzbox Voodoo", "Heard It on the X", "It's Only Love", "Jailhouse Rock", "Legs" Single version, "Party on the Patio", "PCH", "Penthouse Eyes", "Piece", "Planet of Women", "Stages", "Ten Dollar Man", "World of Swirl")
B♭4 ("Breakaway", "Can't Stop Rockin'", "Chartreuse", "Cheap Sunglasses" live Germany 1980, "Cherry Red", "Dipping Low (In the Lap of Luxury)", "Don't Tease Me", "Doubleback", "Drive By Lover", "Flyin' High", "Girl In a T-Shirt", "Give It Up", "I Got The Six", "Lizard Life", "Penthouse Eyes", "Shady", "Sleeping Bag" live 1991, "Softly to the Sun", "Squank", "Tell It", "Thunderbird", "Tush")
A4 ("Avalon Hideaway", "Backdoor Medley", "Balinese", "Catfish Blues" live Oulu 2014, "Chevrolet", "Chocolate Ego", "Comin' Back Home", "Decision or Collision", "Doubleback", "Dust My Broom" live in Germany 1980, "Gun Love", "Have You Heard?", "Heard It on the X", "Hot, Blue and Righteous", "I Gotsa Get Paid", "I Thank You" live in Germany 1980, "It's Only Love", "Nightmare of a Wise Man", "Pan Am Highway Blues", "PCH", "Rough Boy", "Snappy Kakkie", "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree", "Stages", "Ten Dollar Man", "Threshold of a Breakdown", "Viva Las Vegas", "Waitin' for the Bus", "Wonder Man")
G♯4 ("Girl In a T-Shirt", "Have a Little Mercy", "Hot, Blue and Righteous")
G4 ("Antenna Head", "Backdoor Medley", "Balinese", "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers", "Can't Stop Rockin'", "Captain Fire", "Catfish Blues" live, "Cheap Sunglasses" live Germany 1980, "Deal Goin' Down", "Delirious", "Drive By Lover", "Dust My Broom" live in Germany 1980, "Francine", "Goin' Down to Mexico", "Got me Under Pressure" live The Tube 1983, "Heard It on the X", "Heartache In Blue", "I Don't Wanna Lose, Lose, You", "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" RAW - That Little Ol' Band From Texas, "It's Too Easy Mañana", "Jailhouse Rock", "Lowdown in the Street" & "Lowdown In The Street" live Germany 1980, "Mary's", "Master of Sparks", "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings" live Germany 1980, "Old Man", "Piece", "Salt Lick", "Shady", "She Loves My Automobile" live in Germany 1980, "She's a Heartbreaker", "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree", "Thunderbird", "Tube Snake Boogie", "Viva Las Vegas", "World of Swirl")

Significant Low Notes:
E3 ("Catfish Blues" live, "Dreams", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "Wonder Man")
D3 ("Backdoor Medley", "Goin' Down to Mexico", "Just Plain Jane", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear")
C♯3 ("Softly to the Sun")
C3 ("Viva Las Vegas")
B2 ("Catfish Blues" live, "Folsom Prison Blues" live @ The Astrodome 2002)
A2 ("She Loves My Automobile" live in Germany 1980)
G2 ("Catfish Blues" live, "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" live 1982)
E2 ("Folsom Prison Blues" live @ The Astrodome 2002)


.......................................................
Blue marks falsetto or whistle notes.
Underlines mark notes that are obscured in the song mix.
Italics mark non-melodic notes.
Boldface marks notes that are considered to be particularly notable examples of this person's vocal capabilities.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}
B♭5 ("Drive By Lover" ^[1], "Tush" live Germany 1980 ^[1])
G♯5 ("Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" ^[1], "World of Swirl" ^[1])
G5 ("Cheap Sunglasses" live Germany 1980 ^[1], "Delirious" ^[5])
F♯5 ("Piece" ^[5])
D5 ("Gimme All Your Lovin'" ^[5])

D2 ("Viva Las Vegas" ^[1])
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album Ranges}
with American Blues:
American Blues Do Their Thing (1968): C♯3 - E5

In ZZ Top Dusty mainly features as a backing vocalist with varying presence from album to album. Because of this I have not included those albums in the album ranges section

[Henny Macc]

Great job on this! Glad to see my finds with the live E2s that I added to his thread on TRP2 were recognized - those were definitely quite a surprise when I stumbled across them! :D

Might have a few questions about the origins/exclusions of certain notes as I read over the thread more, but I'm pretty happy with the looks of it from my first few glances.

[Henny Macc]

Man, the musician deaths just keep rolling in these days... RIP to another one today. :cry:

[Batfleck]

Damn, 2021 was already a rough start with Alexi Laiho’s passing, but during the last few days, we had Mike Howe from Metal Church that passed away, and then Joey Jordison from Slipknot and now Dusty Hill? Fucking hell man..

[emmy <3]

rip to a legend

[Henny Macc]

When ZZ Top performed "Sleeping Bag" live, Dusty used to sing the chorus and hit B♭4s on it.


Sounds like a quick G2 here.

[mrchonghead]

Not to be a nitpick, but as the guy is sadly deceased, shouldn't that be reflected in the post?

[Henny Macc]

Rewatched ZZ Top's Double Down Live DVD last night, which features their entire Germany 1980 concert as its first disc. Interestingly enough, it seems like Billy and Dusty were going for more of a dual lead vocal arrangement on that concert (as opposed to their usual arrangement where Billy does most of the singing and Dusty just does backing vocals and leads on occasional songs), because Dusty sings additional harmony vocals and leads on quite a few songs - including quite a few that Billy sang the studio versions of. You've got most of the important notes from it listed already, but here are a few others that I found.


He does lead vocals on "Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings" here and hits some G4s, and possibly a short A4 on the line at 6:37.


He does the "OH YEAH!"s on the choruses of "Cheap Sunglasses" here, at 1:08, and at 3:22. G4s and a short B♭4 at 3:29, plus some notes that could probably go in the spoiler for those little trills into higher notes that he does. I'm hearing an F5 at 0:46 and a G5 at 3:26 as far as those go.


Dunno if this would interest you more than the studio version, but lead vocal G4s in this version of "Lowdown in the Street".


Also dunno if you'd be interested in listing this since you already have high notes from this song featured quite a bit, but he gets up to G♯5 here, at 2:32, and at 3:02 in this version of "Tush", plus a sustained but pretty weak F♯5 scream at 3:18. I think he also cracks up to an A♯5 that could go in the spoiler at 3:15.

Platypus tagging you so you see the rest of these without me having to make a whole double post.

[Henny Macc]

Actually, here's a much better sustained F5 at the end of a "Tush" performance (from some 40 years later) if it interests you at all.


Sung E5 here and a few F♯5s. I think it's Dusty because you hear Billy singing the B4 just before it, but it's also a little tricky in this case because you can hear in the rest of the songs that Billy definitely did some overdubs on this one. But I'd say it probably resembles Dusty's voice more closely as well.