The Boxmasters, 'Christmas Cheer'

The buzz: Although he's better known as a Hollywood movie star, Billy Bob Thornton has always had a thing for music. Lately, he's had the urge to jam with his new band the Boxmasters, tackle holiday standards and even dream up a few new ones. Fade to red, white and green.

The verdict: If you like your holiday standards filtered through high lonesome and gritty country, then this may be the disc for you. Boxmaster originals like "My Dreams of Christmas" and "Slower Than Christmas" don't really have a lot of good cheer to spread around; Thornton moans that Christmas is "the day of hell" in the latter tune, and he doesn't even plan on showing up at all in "I Won't Be Home for Christmas." Billy's Boxmasters make up for these morose anti-standards by burning through boogie upgrades of "Silver Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "We Three Kings of Orient Are." Add in covers of Mel Tormé's "The Christmas Song," John Prine's "Christmas in Prison" and Lennon and Ono's "Happy X-Mas (War is Over)," and you have one of the odder holiday offerings in recent memory. 

Did you know? Before he was an actor, Thornton was the drummer for South African rock band Jack Hammer.

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