3 Songs Country Legend Marty Stuart Wrote With Billy Bob Thornton

By 2001, Marty Stuart and Billy Bob Thornton had a batch of songs they had written for the actor and musician’s debut solo album. Thornton’s music career started decades earlier as the drummer for the Arkansas cover band Tres Hombres—a nod to ZZ Top‘s 1973 album—before moving to Los Angeles in 1981 to pursue acting. In the mid-’80s, Thornton also played in the South African band Jack Hammer, and on their 1986 album Death of a Gypsy, a decade before winning the Oscar for Best Actor for Sling Blade. Thornton returned to music in the early ’00s and started working on his first album as a solo artist, Private Radio.

Produced by Stuart, Private Radio is a collection of jagged, personal stories, along with a tribute to Thornton’s then-wife actress Angelina Jolie with “Angelina,” co-written with Randy Scruggs.

“I’ve been in music all my life, and I always wanted to make a record, and I just now got around to it,” said Thornton in 2001. “I was able to find people who I trusted and who trusted me and who responded to my stuff. I wouldn’t want to make it on my “name.” I wanted to make it based on the music, and I found people who wanted to do it based on that.”

Videos by American Songwriter

[RELATED: Marty Stuart Celebrates 30 Years with the Grand Ole Opry, Shares New Song]

Thornton added, “And the songs are right out of my guts, you know. They are songs out of my heart and soul, and the album is exactly me. That’s what it is.”

After Private Radio, Thornton released The Edge of the World in 2003, followed by Hobo (2005), and Beautiful Door (2007). During the earlier season of Thonrton’s musical career, Stuart contributions punctuated his first two releases, including these three songs the duo wrote together.

“Private Radio” (2001)

Written by Marty Stuart, Billy Bob Thornton, and Mark Collie

Thornton’s debut Private Radio, featured two covers, Hank Williams‘ “Lost Highway” and the Byrds’ “He Was a Friend of Mine,” along with a collection of original songs he co-wrote. The album includes eight songs co-written by Thornton and Stuart, including the title track, centered around facing one’s demons.

There are voices in my head
And demons in my soul
Sometimes they keep me warm
Sometimes they leave me cold

There are strangers in my bed
To caress my jaded skin
And squeeze my body tight
And forgive me of my sins

And I know I’m not insane
If I am, I’m not to blame
It’s just this damned old hungry pain
Like a drug inside my veins

“Marty [Stuart] is a hero of mine,” said Thornton. “I kind of feel like I’m a ghost and people don’t even know I’m around half the time, or they don’t hear what I’m saying, and Marty is the same way, and when we get together, we ground each other and also float above things as ghosts together really easily. We just have a way of talking to each other that works.”

Thronton said that Stuart helped give him the confidence to get back into music. “In the beginning, I thought, ‘Do I need to sound more country?’” said Thornton. “He [Stuart] said, ‘I want you to do it exactly the way you feel like doing it. Whatever comes out of you is what we want.’”

“Your Blue Shadow” (2001)

Written by Marty Stuart and Billy Bob Thornton

Featuring Thornton on bass and vocals and Stuart—who also plays mandolin and guitar on Private Radio—on drums and Thornton on bass—on drums, “Your Blue Shadow” is a brooding ballad around the yearning for a lover. “That’s one of my favorites, it’s about the moodiest song on there,” said Thornton in a 2002 interview. “When we were ehearsing for the tour … that song and ‘Private Radio’ were the ones that made us look at each other and say, ‘Well, that’s right there.’ … I’m proud of those.”

Thornton revelead that “Your Blue Shadow” was the first song (before “Angelina”) that he had written about his wife Angelina Jolie for the album.

It cuts every corner of every street
I see it on the face of everybody I meet
It comes out of nowhere, it chills to the bone
When I’m by myself, I’m not alone

I’ve tried to run, I’ve tried to hide
It’s seen me laugh and it’s seen me cry
It’s always there, wherever I go
I can’t escape your blue shadow
I can’t escape your blue shadow

It’s like an ice-cold blanket on the bed of my soul
It’s wrapped around my heart and it won’t let go
I never think about you, well, that’s a lie
I can’t forget about you, so why even try

“To the End of Time” (2003)

Written by Marty Stuart and Billy Bob Thornton

Jim Mitchell joined as co-producer on Thornton’s second album The Edge of the World, which featured one cover, Tracy Chapman’s 1988 single “Baby Can I Hold You” along with a new batch of original songs, including two penned by Thornton’s younger brother Jimmy—”Emily” and “Island Avenue.”

The penultimate “To the End of Time,” was the only track co-written with Stuart, a moodier piece around a closely bound partner.

The sunlight of forever
Shines down on you and me
When we are together
Is the only time we’re free

That’s when the world stands still
We’re the only ones alive
There’s no space in between us
If you look into our eyes

We don’t have to touch
We just breathe each other’s breath
We only have two choices
Paradise or death

Photo: Marty Stuart (l) Billy Bob Thornton (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)