With the George Jackson penned ‘Down Home Blues,’ Z.Z. Hill is credited with bringing the Blues back to the African American community. In 1982, the album Down Home inspired radio programmers across America to add more Blues to their playlists. The song ‘Down Home Blues’ dominated the charts for over a year, spending months in the R&B Top 10. As a testament to the effect Z.Z. Hill had on Blues fans, a Texas Rock band borrowed from his moniker to become ZZ Top.
Born in Naples, Texas, Z.Z. Hill started out signing in the Gospel group The Spiritual Five and quickly transformed into a Soul Blues singer after experiencing the sounds of B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Sam Cooke. Hill’s big brother Matt was a catalyst to his Blues career by starting the MH label. Z.Z.’s debut single on M.H., the gutsy shuffle ‘You Were Wrong,’ entered the Billboard Pop chart in 1964. Z.Z. Hill later found relative success recording singles for the Atlantic, Mankind, Kent United Artists and Hill labels. In 1977, Hill released his biggest selling hit ‘Love Is So Good When You’re Stealing It.’
After a few down years, Z.Z. Hill found a home at Malaco Records. By this time George Jackson had joined the label was a songwriter. Jackson was a well-known composer in both R&B and Pop circles. He was a recording artist for Pram and Decca in the ’60s, but it was his songwriting that gained the Memphis native fame: ‘Too Weak To Fight’ (Clarence Carter), ‘A Man And A Half’ (Wilson Pickett), ‘One Bad Apple’ (The Osmond Brothers), and ‘Old Time Rock & Roll’ (Bob Seger).
Down Home was Hill’s second effort on the Jackson, Mississippi based record company. The title track was immediately christened a Blues standard. Z.Z. Hill’s grisly vocals and smooth guitar made the song a Blues favorite. In fact, fans around the world still croon for the band ‘to play me some of them down home Blues.’ Hill died of a heart attack at the apex of his career in 1984, but his song ‘Down Home Blues’ carries on the spirit of this Texas native.
— (Blues Foundation press release, 2000.)