Billy F Gibbons of ZZ Top recently opened up to Classic Rock about the origin of his nickname, ‘The Reverend,’ and recalled the scam that gave him the moniker:
“That goes back to when I was about 18. We were fascinated by these high-powered radio stations along the Mexican border – XERF just across the river from Del Rio, Texas, XEG down in Reynosa. You could buy shows in fifteen-minute segments after six o’clock in the evening. You had someone selling piano lessons; you had someone selling a hundred baby chicks for two dollars, then the preachers would come on…”
The guitarist mentioned that someone convinced him to see if he could get people to send him money by ‘buying 15 minutes’ worth of airtime’ and went on:
“Now, we had a friend working on the docks in Houston, and he took some delivery of some Chinese slippers. But they were all left feet, and they didn’t know what to do with them. So we bought them for a dime on a dollar and called them Thought-Provoking Soul Slippers.”
Explaining how they solved the problem, he said:
“I became the Reverend Willie G, selling these slippers over the airwaves. [Adopts Southern preacher voice] ‘I will send you Thought-Provoking Soul Slippers with your love offering of five, ten, a thousand dollars or more! We will stamp your favorite psalm in the sole, and with every step you take, thousands of prayers will go out to Jesus!'”
Gibbons’ life as a scammer ended when his parents questioned the source of the money that came through mail in the following days, but ‘the nickname stuck.’
What The Nickname Led To
Later, Gibbons found a different use for his nickname by becoming an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church. He has since officiated many weddings within the music industry, including the second marriage of Billy Joe Shaver in 2008 and the wedding of Tim Lowman and Dani Bell in 2022.
Speaking of the weddings he took part in through the years, Gibbons once told the Midland Daily News:
“I’ve probably officiated at 50 – 60 weddings over the past two decades. Most memorable one took place in a giant IKEA store. I mean, a furnished wedding with Swedish meatballs — how great is that?”
About what led him to start officiating weddings, he said:
“I got started when a couple asked me to ‘marry’ them years ago because, you know, they call me ‘The Reverend Willy G.’ I looked into the certification process to conduct it officially and just went for it. It’s been ‘happily ever after’ since.”
You can read the story of Billy F Gibbons’ nickname here.
