"Pearly Gates"

Billy Gibbons '59 Les Paul ,"Pearly Gates",  is the source of the Rev's heavenly sound.

As a young musician weaned on blues and rock in southern Texas, Billy Gibbons' life was forever altered when he heard the sound of Eric Clapton's Les Paul and Marshall combination on the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album. Like a crusader in search of Holy Jerusalem, Gibbons set out eagerly on a quest for his first Les Paul. After stumbling across a few choice finds in the course of his search, including an original '58 Flying V, Gibbons finally found the guitar of his dreams several years later. Nicknamed "Pearly Gates", this '59 Les Paul fell in to Gibbons' hands through a series of strange circumstances and coincidences. "In the early days of ZZ Top, we acquired an old thirties model Packard automobile," explains Gibbons. "That automobile served us well. It was huge, flashy and lowered, but not intentionally--it was just, plain old. Not long after we got the Packard, one of our girl friends decided to head to California to try out for a part in a movie. We gave her the Packard as a way to get there. Not only did she arrive, but she got the part. We named the automobile "Pearly Gates" because we thought it must have had divine connections."

According to Gibbons, the girlfriend sold the car to a collector and sent the money back to the band. Her timing couldn't have been better. "The very day that the money arrived a guy called me up wanting to sell an old guitar," says Gibbons. "It was a '59 Sunburst Les Paul. I bought the guitar and called the girlfriend to thank her for being so kind. She said, "it looks like the car went for a good cause. Since the money that put the guitar in our lap came from selling the Packard, we'll lay claim to the name Pearly Gates. Now you can go make divine music.' Try as I may I hven't been able to find another guitar that sounds as heavenly."

Gibbons has played this brillant burst on every ZZ Top album since their first, and its thick, sweet tones have confounded a bevy of guitar builders who have tried in vain to imitate it godlike voice. The '59 Gibson Les Paul may be the one of the most desiralbe electric guitars, but Billy Gibbons 59 may be the most coveted Paul of all.

Reprinted from Guitar World May 1997