(Credits: Far Out / The Traveling Willburys / kubacheck
Wed 24 December 2025 19:15, UK
Even though it’s not untrue, Billy Bob Thornton bristles more than most when he’s lumped into the ‘actor-turned-musician’ conversation, although it’s easy to understand why.
Yes, he’s an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, an experienced director, and an Oscar-nominated and two-time Golden Globe-winning actor who’s been working in Hollywood for the last four decades, but he isn’t one of those celebrities who steps into the recording booth out of vanity and a need to prove themselves.
For one thing, he always wanted to be a musician, and he’d be the first to admit that he didn’t know a thing about acting when he first moved from Arkansas to California in the 1980s. He’s also been incredibly prolific as an artist, putting out more albums than most of his peers who’ve taken a crack at swapping silver-screen stardom for bestselling records.
It’s not as if The Boxmasters are a mainstream entity, either, with the group forming in 2007 and releasing almost two dozen albums, none of which have made a splash on the charts. Thornton has music in his bones, but the perils that come with being a famous face are that any extracurricular activities are instantly viewed as side projects, and he didn’t want his name to overshadow the hard work.
To try and combat the unwanted stigma of being known as ‘Billy Bob Thornton’s band’ and nothing more, he sought inspiration from the Traveling Wilburys. There are supergroups, and then there’s Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty, which exists in a completely different stratosphere.
The band famously adopted alter egos for their recordings, going by Lucky, Nelson, Otis, Leftie, and Charlie T Wilbury, respectively, with Boo, Spike, Clayton, and Muddy later added to the rotation, leaving their real names out of the liner notes and songwriting credits to place their egos, status, and reputations to one side and let the music do the talking, instead of bringing their superstar baggage into the sessions.
Thornton knew it would be hard to pass himself off as “one of the guys” alongside his bandmates, so he came up with a plan. Not a very convincing one, since his face was still plastered all over their marketing and promotional materials, but he nonetheless rebranded himself as WR ‘Bud’ Thornton, drummer and vocalist.
“Bud sounded like a good name for a guy who is a Boxmaster,” he explained to The Boot. “In the beginning, we were going to downplay me a lot. But sometimes, they won’t let ya. We made up this whole story, kinda like the Traveling Wilburys, who all had different names, but then we thought we don’t want it to look like we’re trying to trick people.”
It was a novel suggestion, but since everybody knew he was already, WR ‘Bud’ Thornton and his elaborate fictional backstory eventually became plain old Billy Bob again. “When you look at a record cover, and I’m on it, there’s no mystery,” he acknowledged. “But I used the name because I simply like being part of a band. I don’t like to be the star of something.”
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