Sling Song

Billy Bob sings at the HOB

Comments (0) By John Freeman Thursday, Aug 9 2007

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Hollywood is full of weirdos. When Billy Bob Thornton was married to Angelina Jolie, the unlikely pair wore each others' blood around their necks and would publicly say things about their sex life that still make the mind reel and the skin crawl. Billy Bob Thornton is, of course, most well known as an actor. He was born in Arkansas and often plays up his "shed-cred" for roles in movies like Sling Blade. Billy Bob also has a decidedly less well-known career as a musician, having released four albums of whispery-voiced roots-rock that walk the line between Tom Waits and Charles Manson. Most of his songs seem like spoken-word pieces with a rural flavoring. The title track from his 2005 CD, Hobo, repeats the line, "I eat scraps and things" over a shuffle beat and minimal guitar tidbits, with the vocals delivered in a non-melodious drawl. BBT's music definitely lets you know that you can take the boy out of Arkansas but you can't take Arkansas out of the boy. And he, apparently, used to sing in a ZZ Top cover band, too, so maybe he'll whip out a smokin' cover of "Pearl Necklace" during his show. See Billy Bob Thornton 8 p.m. Thursday at the House of Blues. Tickets are $12.50 to $25. Visit hob.com.
Thu., Aug. 9