|
As
a boy growing up in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Billy Bob
Thornton was naturally drawn to music. As a child,
he and his younger brother Jimmy were eager participants
in the family ritual of listening to albums each night
before going to bed, and grew up listening to everything
from Elvis Presley, Ray Price and Jim Reeves, to Captain
Beefheart, the Mothers of Invention and of course,
The Beatles. At age 9, Thornton got his first drum
kit and formed a band called The McCoveys, after baseball
legend Willie McCovey.
Continuing
his musical education through the turbulent times
of 1960's America, Thornton found himself heavily
influenced by bands like the Beatles, the Kinks, and
the popular Dave Clark Five. After high school, he
joined a local soul group named Blue and the Blue
Velvets and eventually formed his own soul group Hot
'Lanta, after the Allman Brothers song of the same
name.
In
1974, Thornton formed Nothin' Doin' with band mates
Mike and Nick Shipp. Playing drums and sharing lead
vocals with the Shipp brothers, Thornton and Nothin'
Doin' began performing for colleges and high schools
throughout Arkansas and Texas. During a performance
at the famed Houston, Texas rock 'n roll club Carti's,
the band was approached by Scott Weiss of Lone Wolf
Productions, ZZ Top's management company. Sounding
identical to the bearded rockers, Weiss pitched Thornton
and the Shipps on the idea of touring as a ZZ Top
tribute band. Nothin' Doin' became Tres Hombres and
began touring and building a solid reputation. When
the band wasn't touring, Thornton satisfied his need
to be near music by working as a roadie for bands
such as Lighthouse and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
In
1981, Thornton put down his drumsticks and moved to
California to pursue a career in acting. And although
he stopped performing music publicly, it remained
a passion within him. The first film that he would
direct would be a documentary on the Athens, GA band,
Widespread Panic.
In
1995, during the shooting of his film "Slingblade"
in Arkansas, Thornton would get together with some
of his old band mates and hold jam sessions for the
film crew. It wasn't long before Thornton began putting
together a collection of songs. Upon his return to
Los Angeles, Thornton began writing the songs for
what would become his debut album, Private Radio.
Produced
by Grammy Award winning recording artist Marty Stuart,
who co-wrote many of the tracks on the album with
Thornton, Private Radio was born in the lounge of
the Sunset Marquis, and recorded in Thornton's at
home recording studio.
Over
a seven-month period, Thornton and Stuart assembled
a collection of songs that retold many of Thornton's
personal experiences, as well as those of individuals
who's lives he was familiar with, and reflected the
music that influenced him throughout his life from
traditional country and the blues, to rock and R&B.
Structured
like short stories, and in a style that could be referred
to as Southern Gothic, each of the songs on Private
Radio have their own unique characteristics, and are
sung in Thornton's distinctive bluesy voice, which
was compared by Rolling Stone.com as a cross between
Leonard Cohen and Tom Petty.
In
addition to the release of Private Radio, Thornton
will also make an appearance on country legend Earl
Scruggs' upcoming release, performing a rendition
of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Thornton
also appears on Mercury Records upcoming Hank Williams
tribute album, in which he performs "The Lost
Highway."
A
true child of the sixties and a self-described hippie,
Billy Bob Thornton views his music as an extension
of his desires to tell compelling stories of the everyday
man. Private Radio was born of that desire, in many
ways reflecting a journey of discovery that everyone
who listens to it can relate to.
|
