Elwood Francis

About

Elwood Francis (born 1961) is an American guitar tech and bassist. The longtime guitar technician for bassist Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, Francis replaced Hill in the band after Hill’s death in 2021 at Hill’s request.

From Lexington, Kentucky, he started playing guitars at age 13 or 14 after listening to “Telstar” by The Tornados. His grandfather got him his first guitar. He started working in guitar tech through Joe Perry. His influences are Frank Zappa, Geordie Walker, Steve Jones, Bob Stinson, and Kenny Hillman.
Francis performs in his own group, The Mighty Skullhead, a band he formed in the 1980s.

While working as ZZ Top’s guitar technician, Francis claimed to be largely responsible for Hill quitting marijuana in an Instagram post. According to Francis, at a hotel in Amsterdam, Hill was smoking the drug when Francis noticed a metal bar underneath one of the hotel windows. Francis jumped out of the window while holding onto the bar, something Hill could not see from his perspective, making it look like he had committed suicide. Hill apparently never smoked marijuana again after the incident.
In July 2021, Hill dropped out of a concert due to a…