Most people know ZZ Top, but far fewer know Arzell J. Hill, the Texas singer whose stage name inspired the band's title. This deep dive follows ZZ Hill from gospel touring with the Spiritual Five in the 1950s to the Dallas club scene, a push from Otis Redding to go national, and a long, winding path through Kent, Capricorn, Mankind, United Artists, and Columbia Records before the pivot that defined his legacy.

We examine why the slick New York disco-era production behind his 1977 hit Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It felt like a stylistic straitjacket, and why leaving a major label for Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi looked like a retreat but became a revival. The 1982 album Down Home stayed on the Billboard soul chart for nearly two years, and its title track became the definitive blues anthem of the decade. The episode closes ...