ZZ Top is gearing up for a new album, the first studio release in 8 years.  Billy Gibbons has hinted that the album will be out by the end of the year.   According to Billboard.com  the three men from Texas have been recording in both Houston and Los Angeles. “I’ve got a little studio at my house out in L.A.,” he says, “and it kind of takes the load off to be able to leave Texas, got to California, stay there for awhile and then you get to leave California and come back to Texas.”  The album will be a presentation of the blues in classic ZZ Top fashion.  A ZZ Top tribute album is also on the way, with Foo Fighters, Nickelback and Kid Rock partaking.