Just how different is a Billy Gibbons—excuse us, Billy F Gibbons (no period, please)—solo album different from a ZZ Top album? It’s a fair question and, based on the two he’s released now, the answer is…well, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t! On 2015’s Perfectamundo , Gibbons’ long-awaited solo debut, the guitarist/ vocalist deliberately broke away from the ZZT mold, delving into Latin rhythms that have at times surfaced in the trio’s work but have certainly never been their stock in trade. The Big Bad Blues , however, could easily have been recorded with his veteran group. From its opening moments, a revved-up, boogie-powered tune called “Missin’ Yo’ Kissin’,” Gibbons and band are in familiar territory. They stay there throughout, not that that should come as a surprise given the album’s stated concept: If anyone knows his way around a “big bad blues,” it’s this guy, and whether he’s blasting his way through a Muddy Waters standard like “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” or Bo Diddley’s “Crackin’ Up,” or one of the several original tunes that comprise nearly half the set, Gibbons, for better or worse, never leaves his comfort zone. Even after decades of cranking out bluesbased rock, Gibbons hasn’t lost any of his fire, that’s for sure, and those original tunes are every bit as solid as the covers: On tracks such as “Hollywood 151” and “Let the Left Hand Know…,” Gibbons and his chosen musicians serve up reminders of how to keep a blues tune from deteriorating into stale old bar-band crap.