THORNTON TO TAKE
PRIVATE RADIO TOUR
Copyright 2002 www.reuters.com
[ March 26th 2002 ]
Actor
Billy Bob Thornton, star of The Man Who Wasn't
There, will soon be the man behind the microphone
as he launches a two-week rockabilly tour this
spring to promote his debut album, Private Radio.
Thornton, who once earned a living as a drummer
and opened for such acts as Humble Pie, Hank Williams
Jr., Ted Nugent and Richie Havens, will return
to his musical roots with a series of small concert-hall
performances starting May 17 at the El Rey Theater
in Los Angeles.
The actor
will use the eight-city U.S. tour to showcase
songs from Private Radio, released last fall by
Lost Highway Records, as well as tunes from an
upcoming record, a statement announcing the tour
said on Tuesday. "These songs are incredibly personal
to me, and I think the best way to share them
with an audience is in an intimate setting where
they can really feel the emotion in them," Thornton
said in the statement.
Private
Radio was released to mixed reviews last fall,
though Rolling Stone magazine, which gave it four
stars, described the album as a "pleasing Southern
Gothic exploration in mid-tempo twang, bad-boy
rockabilly revelries and dark balladry." Most
of the songs were co-written by Thornton, who
plays drums on the record, and producer Marty
Stuart.
On one
track, the Arkansas native murmurs to his woman
that "the only thing standing between me and you
now is 200 miles and a donut tire." In another,
presumably written for actress-wife Angelina Jolie,
Thornton sings, "Angelina, what's come between
us? Could it be the magic and mystery of love?"
The tour
follows a busy acting year for Thornton, whose
recent movie appearances included the Coen brothers
film noir "The Man Who Wasn't There," the crime
caper "Bandits" with Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett
and the racially charged drama "Monster's Ball"
with Halle Berry.
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