Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters

Show sponsor: Phillips Electric & Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber

During the shutdown of 2020, the recording studios in Los Angeles were closed for several months. For avid creators Bud and J.D., this was a time to start planning and writing for the day that the studios would open again and what sort of new songs would emerge. Over the course of the next year, The Boxmasters would record three new albums. A very personal album called “Nothing Personal” which is yet to be released, “Christmas In California” which was released in November of 2021 and “Help…I’m Alive” which is to be released on April 15th on Keentone Records/ Thirty Tigers.

“It’s been difficult for people to live in this world for the past few years. Normally you hear someone cry out ‘Help, I’m drowning’ or ‘Help, I’m dying’. This song is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying, ‘Wow it sucks being here right now. Help…I’m Alive.’ Well, okay, it’s really not so tongue-in-cheek. I came up with the chorus and melody just walking around the house during lockdown. It just came out in that moment, just as it is on the record. I picked up a guitar and Facetimed J.D.” recalls Bud about the creation of the title track on the album.

“This album was really a cathartic release for us. We were able to be in our favorite place in the world, which is the recording studio. So we made a joyful noise. Meanwhile there was a lot of pain and suffering and fighting all around us. I lost one of my best friends from childhood who took his own life on one of the days that we were recording. So there are those bits of sadness in these poppy and fun sounding songs” says J.D.

The “2022 Help…I’m Alive” Tour runs from April into June and makes stops in all areas of the United States. Familiar stops in Kansas City at Knuckleheads, Atlanta, Annapolis, Oregon and California are joined with new venues in Texas, Wyoming, Ohio and Kentucky. “We were having the best tour of our careers last summer before we had to stop due to the coronavirus. So we are very excited to get back out there and in front of the fans” says J.D. “We should have some new merchandise as well as a few new songs from both “Help…I’m Alive” as well as new songs that we’ve been writing in the last few months.”

Formed in 2007, The Boxmasters have recorded an impressive and diverse catalogue of music that touches on their love of a wide array of influences, but most importantly, the rock and roll of the 1960’s. Listening to The Boxmasters, one can hear obvious odes to the Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys, but also important to The Boxmasters are The Mothers of Invention, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine and Big Star.

Since forming The Boxmasters, several long-time friends have contributed to the sound of the band, but the core of The Boxmasters has always been Andrew and Thornton. As primary songwriters, the sound of the Boxmasters has been an evolution as the duo constantly strive to find new inspiration, new sounds and new ways of expressing what is in their hearts and on their minds. But at the core, there is a backbeat, a lyric with meaning and music played with emotion.

As a touring band, The Boxmasters have cultivated a rabid cult fanbase across the United States and Canada. Opening for the likes of ZZ Top, Steve Miller and Los Lobos, The Boxmasters have proven to win over large audiences. As a headliner, frequent stops in Kansas City at “Knuckleheads”, Springfield, Illinois at “Boondocks” and “Merrimack Hall” in Huntsville, Alabama have shown dedicated yet still growing audiences. Two appearances at Levon Helm’s “Midnight Ramble” in Woodstock, New York were highlight performances for the band, as well as the “Ramble at The Ryman” that Levon hosted in 2008. The Boxmasters performed on “The Grand Ole Opry” in 2015, another in a growing resume of must-play venues.