ZZ Top rock the historic Keith-Albee

It's time to welcome back to town that "little ol' band from Texas," ZZ Top.

After a successful stop at Huntington's Big Sandy Superstore Arena last year, America's greatest blues-rock 'n' boogie band is poised to rattle the doors of Huntington's historic Keith-Albee Theater Saturday night.

A Texas-sized good time will be had by all, promises bassist and co-lead vocalist Dusty Hill.

"We've been touring all summer, throughout the U.S. and Europe," 59-year-old Hill added in a recent telephone interview. "We wanted to end this year with a more face-to-face theater tour that takes us to some smaller venues and to some cities we haven't played in a while."

"Theaters are smaller venues than what we've been played recently, but it reminds us of the earlier days of the band."

Huntington is the fourth night on the band's 19-date "In Your Face" fall tour that also brings them to Nashville's world-famous Ryman Auditorium and Columbus, OH's Palace Theater.

ZZ Top includes guitarist and co-lead vocalist Billy F. Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard. They were inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall-of-Fame in 2004. The band will celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2009.

When the tour wraps, ZZ Top will enter the studio this winter with producer Rick Rubin to begin work on their 15th studio album. The band signed a record deal with Rubin's American Recordings label this past summer.

Rubin, who MTV called "the most important producer of the last 20 years," was behind the 1986 breakthrough collaboration between Run-DMC and Aerosmith on "Walk This Way," Johnny Cash's "American" album series, and Metallica's recently released chart-topping return to form, "Death Magnetic."

"You never know how it's going to go in the studio with a producer you haven't worked with before," Hill said of the collaboration, "but I know and respect Rick. I think we'll work well together."

Billboard magazine reported that the band plans to return to their "La Grange"-era sound rather that of the synthesizer-heavy 1980s recordings.

"You know, we sound the way we sound," Hill said. "I think it's gonna be fun to see what we can come up with."

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the band's worldwide smash "Eliminator" full-length that has sold more than 10 million copies to date.

Released in April 1983, the album spawned the hits "Legs," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Gimme All Your Lovin'."

All three songs were made into cutting-edge music videos that were nearly inescapable at the time. ZZ Top became early MTV darlings, armed with fuzzy, white guitars, silver "ZZ" keychains, and a souped-up, red 1933 three-window Ford Coupe full of leggy models.

"People might not remember this, but we had to film the 'Legs' video twice," Hill said with a chuckle. "When we sent it off to the lab for processing, they ruined the film. We had to go back and do the whole thing over again. But you can imagine it was a really fun video to make."

To celebrate, the band re-released the album in September in a special two-disc collector's edition that includes live tracks and a "Legs" dance mix, plus a DVD of the videos from the album and a 20-page booklet. Diehards will be happy to find the long sought-after video for "TV Dinners" in the package.

This year also marks a first in the band's long career - their first concert DVD "Live from Texas." Filmed at the Nokia Theatre in Dallas in 2007, the disc features the band blazing through a two-hour set of classics.

"We're just as surprised as everyone else is that we haven't recorded one before," Hill said. "That night was one good party, but we couldn't put it all on film."

Hill said the band isn't sure how they'll celebrate their 40th anniversary in music next year, but he does have a theory on why the band has stuck together for so long without major rough spots or public fights.

"We all come from such similar backgrounds in blues and rock music, and we have the same sense of humor," Hill said. "People pick up on that when they listen to one of our records or come to one of our shows."