Elwood Francis

Elwood Francis (born August 23, 1961) is an American guitar tech and bassist. Francis was the longtime guitar technician for bassist Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, who chose Francis as his replacement while on his deathbed in 2021.

Early career From Lexington, Kentucky, Francis started playing guitars at age 13 after listening to "Telstar" by The Tornados. His grandfather got him his first guitar. In an Instagram post, he said Hill was smoking the drug in a hotel in Amsterdam 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. Francis played his first show as an official member of ZZ Top on July 30, 2021, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In 2024, Francis said that it still feels "weird" taking Hill's place in the band, and does not consider himself an official member of the band.

In 2022, Francis went viral for performing on stage with a 17-string bass guitar, an instrument he found "late at night while internet surfing on one of those Chinese websites". He sent the listing to Billy Gibbons and they ordered the bass from China. Francis has admitted that he hates playing the instrument as it is hard to play and he struggles finding the frets on the bass' neck.