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Appears that at least one person outside of the group and their associated producers has gotten to hear a brand new ZZ Top song. Astronaut Michael Fossum, a friend of ZZ, was provided a copy of the Top's new song "Flyin High" from their still untitled new album prior to his depature into space. No word on when the general public will be given a chance to listen.

Note the article indicates the song is set at 120 beats per minute, which is the exact pace and speed of many of Eliminator's tracks.

This entry is courtesy of an excellent find by potential future blog contributor J. Lescott. Thanks go to him.

NASA Astronaut Michael Fossum, now on his wayto the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-02M along with his fellow astronauts and cosmonauts aboard got a sneak preview of a track that is slated to be in part of ZZ Top's, as yet untitled, forthcoming album.

The sound of music, yet another time-honored trademark of a Soyuz launch, provided temporary entertainment for the crew moments before blastoff. About an hour before the rocket's first two stages ignited, the crew nestled in their custom-fitted seat liners rocked out inside the descent module of the vehicle poised at the tip of the rocket.

ZZ Top offered a track entitled "Flyin' High" from the new album, the band's first studio recording since 2005, to be played in honor of the crew's loved ones. An excerpt from the song's lyrics, "Flyin' high, I'm gonna touch the sky," resonates with the Soyuz trajectory and docking at the International Space Station.

Fossum grew up in McAllen, Texas, and holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. The long-bearded, American rock band also from Texas shares the common tie with Fossum in its roots.

During the course of his previous mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, Fossum played the band's hit "Got Me Under Pressure," a reference to the raising of cabin pressures during the course of that 2008 flight.

Astronaut Fossum is joined on the Soyuz heading to the space station by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.