BILLY BOB THORNTON AND THE BOXMASTERS

When: 6-8 p.m. today
Where: The Thirsty Parrot, 32 S. Tejon St.
Tickets: $20 in advance/$25 at door Information: 884-1094

Billy Bob Thornton might be the only man in the world for whom a career as a movie star, director and Oscar-winning screenwriter was a backup job. "Music has always been my thing," he said during a recent phone interview. Having picked up drumsticks first at age 9, Thornton has been playing ever since - in the ZZ Top tribute band Tres Hombres, and doing solo albums, including the critically acclaimed "Private Radio" and "Beautiful Door."

Now on tour with his new band, The Boxmasters, Thornton arrives at The Thirsty Parrot tonight to sing old favorites as well as hits from the group's two-disc, self-titled debut album.

Branded as psychedelic hillbilly rock, the first disc consists of songs Thornton wrote himself and with others - raw, narrative tunes with a honky-tonk twang and subtly retro instrumentals.

On the second disk, the band covers such country classics as "Knoxville Girl" and "She's Looking Better by the Minute," and country-fies pop-rock classics including "The Kids Are Alright" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

In their live shows, The Boxmasters start out the show in their trademark black retro suits for their original tunes, and then change clothes and sounds for the second set. Thornton lets loose with solo work and an eclectic list of covers, including stuff from the Allman Brothers, as well as "a little more jamming," Thornton said.

"That's usually when I take a break at the side of the stage and have a smoke," he said.

For the Arkansas boy who has always wanted to have a rock band, making the album and touring with his band-mates, J.D. Andrew and Mike Butler, is a dream come true. Which begs the question: "Is it easier to make it as a movie star than a rock star?"

Recently, Thornton phoned The Gazette to solve this and other mysteries.

Gazette: Tell me a little bit about why you went from a solo career to singing with The Boxmasters.

Thornton: I wanted to do some covers. I like the way the 1960s Britishinvasion stuff sounded, and I love hillbilly music. I'd already been playing with J.D. Andrew and Mike Butler, and so we sat down and created this thing called The Boxmasters. It's just a bunch of guys who love The Beatles and love Buck Owens, too. With the record, the original side is about the working class. The covers side is a tribute to cowboy music of the late 1960s and early 1970s, like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, that sort of thing. I grew up in Arkansas and east Texas. Then I was in rock 'n' roll bands growing up. I loved Jerry Lee Lewis. Now, this is a marriage of the two.

G: Did you record the album in your home studio?

T: We recorded the whole album there. It's a really great studio; a lot of people use it. I bought it from Slash. They recorded the Snakepit there. He called the studio "the snake pit"; we call it "the cave."

G: Your solo stuff was so personal, and it seems like with The Boxmasters, your songs are more in the third person. Is that right?

T: Well, being part of a band, you don't do as much personal stuff.

G: I guess I thought the move might be a reflection of your increasing fame, and the burst of paparazzi culture in the past few years.

T: In a way, that's probably true. It wasn't conscious, but somewhere underneath, I did it for that reason. Not that I'm that big of a paparazzi guy. They're mostly obsessed with celebrity relationships, and I'm not in one of those. I still talk to Angie (Angelina Jolie, his ex-wife), and we're good friends. If we went out to lunch together, I'm sure they'd be all over the place. It really affects your life. But you really can't blame it all on the media. If people weren't into those stories, they wouldn't go after them. It's a business.

G: Your songs are very story-driven, characterdriven. Where do the subjects for your songs come from?

T: Well, I don't always know exactly. Observation, personal experience. I've led a pretty eclectic life. The songs that end up on the records are generally the ones that come quickly. The ones I get stuck on usually don't make the record; they never get finished. My house is full of little pieces of paper with unfinished songs. I'm a stream-of-consciousness writer. And that's true of my films and my music.

G: Some of your themes are really dark. Like in "Bit Grifter," which is a venomous rant against a woman, and "The Work of Art," about a friend who's cheating on his wife. Is that your concept of small town culture?

T: Not small town culture, so much as lower middle class. That's where I come from. In fact, I don't think we have anyone in the band that was raised in an affluent way. It's about that; it's about people who live without means and the problems that come out of that. Relationships, addictions. I guess in a way, the record is personal, some of the songs, even if they're not directly about me.

G: How does the hillbilly stuff go over in Los Angeles?

T: Well, I'm kind of a native son in L.A. Or an adopted son. I've been in California for 30 years. L.A. is pretty good to us. A lot of bands won't play the city because they figure people are jaded. But we do good here.

G: As an actor, do you find it's hard to get taken seriously as a musician?

T: Not anymore. Maybe in the beginning. This time around, we were No. 1 on the Amazon charts for a while. And we've got a lot of endorsements from music writers, musicians. We're getting pretty well respected.

G: Do you care much whether you're loved or not?

T: Well, everyone wants to be well respected. And my songs, they come straight out of my heart and soul. I don't write pop songs, or else the songs would be much different than they are. So it feels good to be respected.

G: What do you see as your musical project? What mark are you trying to make or what gap are you trying to fill?

T: Personally, I think the importance of The Boxmasters is bringing back the hillbilly music of the 1960s. We try to keep it sounding like the old records; we try to keep that old music alive. It's really just pop music. Anyone who tries to keep pop and American rock alive, that's important. We're filling that space.

G: Who else do you think is doing good work?

T: I respect Jack White (of the White Stripes) a lot because he respects the history of music. The fact that he knows where it comes from - that's one of the most important things. He's listening to Billie Holiday. A lot of kids - 20, 19 - they think a classic rock band is Cinderella. They don't go back in history enough, and their music is not coming from a place of knowledge. Mostly, though, I'm still listening to the Allman Brothers. The music I listen to is 1975 and back, or even 1974 and back.

G: What's next? Are you doing any films or are you sticking to music for a while?

T: I'm kind of always sticking to music. But I keep making the movies to pay for the house. I've got another movie coming up in the fall. And I've got two coming out. There's "Eagle Eye," which is a big DreamWorks thing. That's what's paying for the house. And I just did one called "Manure" about a fertilizer salesman. I'm not sure when that one will be coming out - maybe not this winter; it's not exactly a Christmas movie. I'll be touring for a while now, though, and we've got another album coming out this year.

G: I can't believe filmmaking is your backup job. Is it that much easier to make it as a movie star than a rock star?

T: It wasn't easy, but it happened. It came about first. Don't get me wrong, I love acting. Directing is a pain in the ass. When you're an actor, you work on something for two or three months and then you're done. As a director, you're on it for a year and a half.

G: Will we see you combining your loves of acting and music? Perhaps "Bad Santa, the Musical"?

T: (Laughs.) That would be pretty funny. That's not actually a bad idea. I haven't really thought about it. I would like to score a movie sometime. Whether it'll be my own film or someone else's, I'm not sure.

G: You gave a concert at Fort Carson not too long ago. How did that go?

T: That was amazing. Pretty heavy. A lot of those guys and girls were heading to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the base was kind of a stopover for them. They couldn't have been a better audience. A lot stayed behind and lined up for autographs. They couldn't have been kinder. We've played Denver and Telluride since, but we're looking forward to getting back to Colorado Springs. We're anxious to come and see everybody again. I hope people from the base will come out. We like it up there. We don't always get clean air. It makes us dizzy for the first couple of hours, and then it's great.