Billy Bob Thornton’s single favourite album of all time: “The best one of all”
Any time an actor signals their intention to follow a musical career, eyebrows are usually raised on both sides of the divide. His recordings might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Billy Bob Thornton definitely shows more passion than many of his Hollywood stablemates who’ve released albums.
Countless stars have decided they wanted to try their luck as a musician, and for every one that’s thrived, at least two have released a vanity project that’s barely even listenable. As you might expect from an Arkansas native, Thornton isn’t aiming for the mainstream, and he’s been prolific as an artist.
In addition to his four solo albums, the Academy Award winner has released 19 studio albums with his band, The Boxmasters, dropped a couple of EPs, and guested on several songs by other artists. One thing you never do is ask him about his movie career when he’s on tour, though, because it’s a guaranteed way to piss him off.
That comes with the territory when his onscreen adventures will always be more known to the public than his musical endeavours, with The Boxmasters’ self-described “modbilly” style, a blend of rock, country, and the British Invasion, unlikely to separate itself too far from Thornton’s recognisable mug, which has starred in dozens of films that have combined to earn billions of dollars at the box office.
He grew up obsessed with The Beatles and has cited everyone and everything from Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson to Creedence Clearwater Revival and Frank Zappa via Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys as his favourites, but as far as he’s concerned, nothing will ever be able to dislodge The Allman Brothers Band’s third record, 1971’s At Fillmore East, as the greatest thing he’s ever heard.
“The best one of all. Nobody else comes close,” he told Swampland. “My favourite band, bar none. Fillmore East made me want to play music. It made me want to go to concerts. It put me in a creek at three o’clock in the morning, sometimes I got a notion to go someplace else in another space, if you know what I mean.”
It’s hardly a shock for Thornton to name his favourite band of all time as being the ones responsible for his favourite album of all time, but he had plenty to choose from. After all, once they’d dropped their first self-titled record in 1969, they’d go on to release another nine in the next 12 years, although there was plenty of tragedy and upheaval to navigate during that time.
Less than three months after At Fillmore East hit shelves, Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident at the age of only 24, with bassist Berry Oakley being killed a little over a year later, also at 24, in another motorcycle accident, not too far away from where his bandmate met his demise.
It’s been over 50 years since the album arrived, and Thornton has no doubt listened to an awful lot of music since then, but nothing has ever been able to dislodge his number one favourite album from the spot it’s held since the first time he heard it.
