To many, Billy Bob Thornton is an Oscar®-winning writer/actor/director. However, he’s been a drummer since he was nine years old and has always been a musician at heart. BBT led various ’70s groups, notably ZZ Top tribute band Tres Hombres, which opened for Humble Pie, the MC5, Hank Williams, Jr., Ted Nugent, the Earl Scruggs Review, and others. He has previously released three critically acclaimed solo albums and has recorded with such notables as Dwight Yoakam, Daniel Lanois, Warren Zevon, Marty Stuart, Earl Scruggs and Styx.
His fourth solo album, Beautiful Door proves to be his most introspective and accomplished to date, a personal album about life, love and loss, beginnings and ends. Beautiful Door is a musical blend of roots rock, country, and folk — the genres he has always loved most. Graham Nash adds background vocals on three tracks.
This is Billy Bob Thornton's list of music you should hear.
Find more artists' recommendations on our main Music You Should Hear page: http://www.amazon.com/mysh
Billy Bob Thornton's List of Music You Should Hear
"Breathe" - Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd "The reason I think 'Breathe' is a great song is because outside of 'Money,' it probably is the thing that people from my era identify with in terms of that record. When you hear 'Breathe' that brings back that whole time, it takes you there."
"Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" - The Essential Kris Kristofferson - Kris Kristofferson "I think maybe the most perfectly written song ever because you feel it and smell the chicken frying and everything. We know that dirty shirt and that sidewalk."
"Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room" - Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room - Dwight Yoakam "I love Dwight, I love everything he does but this song here, that was like God or the Great Spirit or whatever talking through him. That was just an amazing song and it puts you right in the room with him. It's a movie."
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" - Past Masters, Vol. 1 - The Beatles "There are a lot of amazing very artistic songs by The Beatles but it’s hard to make a better pop song than 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and that’s why all of us wanted to be in a band...that song!"
"Strange Brew" - Disraeli Gears - Cream "It just such a weird song, such a strange sounding song, the vocals, the music, just the way that record was recorded. I think Tom Dowd was quite a genius and I think he was a great match for those guys and it’s the song I remember most off that record even though there were a couple other songs on there that might have been more popular. This was one I always identify with that record."
"Hello In There" - John Prine - John Prine "First of all, how many songs are written about old people and about the loneliness about getting older? Brilliant song and Prine told me it was the first he wrote which scared the hell out of me and made me want to give up songwriting. It’s a brilliantly written song and I cry every time I hear it and I probably heard it 3,000 times."
"Dreams" - The Allman Brothers Band - The Allman Brothers "It’s just got that spooky grease all over it that the Allman Bros. have. The Allman Bros. are my favorite band. Greg was beyond his years when he wrote that one."
"Positively 4th Street" - Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits - Bob Dylan "It has to be the great ‘f**k-you’ song of all time… I don’t know what else to say about it, obviously he’s a brilliant writer but boy that says it."
"Let’s Make the Water Turn Black" - We're Only in It for the Money - Mothers of Invention "It’s just hysterical and if you know the story behind it, it makes it even funnier. It’s from when he was a kid. Frank’s neighbors were a couple of kids from Arkansas and they use to hang out in the garage. They had an urn in there that they would pee in during the winter because it was too cold outside and some things started to grow in it. It’s a long story but it’s a hysterical song."
"Substitute" - The Who: The Ultimate Collection - The Who "I just think it personifies their sound. The Who has a million great songs but this is just one I remember, it’s just a song from my childhood that I thought was great."
"I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry" - 20 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits - Hank Williams "This is definitely the most lonesome song I ever heard, title is really appropriate, given his life. Hank’s voice is so raw and he meant every word of it."
"Just Got Paid" - Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top - ZZ Top "To me, it’s just their best song. That riff that starts it out, drums, bass, vocal, everything is just great. This is the one that made me want do a ZZ Top tribute band."
"King Creole" - ELVIS 2ND TO NONE - Elvis “The King Creole soundtrack record was what my mother always played before we would go to sleep at night. It was always my favorite Elvis song. So funky.”
"Midnight Caller" - The Very Best of Badfinger - Bad Finger "There’s a lot of great songs by Bad Finger and this was one of my favorites… a lot of tragedy in that band. I always tend to like melancholy songs and this is another one of those."
The Essential Johnny Cash On Johnny Cash: "It’s hard to say what my favorite Johnny Cash song is. That’s why there isn’t a Johnny Cash song on the list. My favorite Johnny Cash song is everything he ever did. He’s in a class all his own and I just don’t know how I could pick a song by Johnny Cash. 'Folsom Prison Blues' and 'One Piece at a Time', it gets kinda ridiculous and you don’t know what to say. I loved hearing Johnny Cash sing 'Girl from the North Country', a Bob Dylan song. It’s hard to pick one."
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