Description:
You may be aware that backwoods Brando Billy Bob Thornton released a few moody singer/songwriter albums over the last few years that are unlikely to make anyone forget Leonard Cohen, but it turns out he just hadn`t found his groove yet. June 10 sees the release of the self-titled debut album by the Boxmasters, Thornton`s country-rock band. Not only is their mix of caustically witty tunecraft and rockin` honky tonk better than any of Thornton`s other musical efforts to date, it`s actually better than most of the alt-country acts out there at the moment. This might be at least partially because The Boxmasters are more specifically old-school "country rock" than self-conscious "alt country." Hell, their album comes with a bonus disc of covers that includes two tunes by cosmic-cowboy cult fave/former Monkee Michael Nesmith! If that doesn`t give BBT some cred with the Gram Parsons-loving crowd, nothing will. -- Jim Allen, prefixmag.com (Vanguard)
