Paper Trails: "A grand old time" in Nashville with Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Shipp

Carrie Rengers
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tuesday, June 27, 2000

Benton's Michael Shipp has been jamming with Billy Bob Thornton on and off since high school, and the two are about halfway to producing their first serious album.

"It was kind of kicking off as fun stuff," Shipp says of their first efforts. "This is no longer fun. This is serious. It's really cool stuff."

They have been recording in Nashville, Tennessee, and Los Angeles.

"Both of us have always really liked the Nashville scene," Shipp says. "All these Nashville cats, they're really enthused."

Except Thornton and Shipp don't play country. It's all rock 'n' roll.

They had help from musicians like Earl Scruggs, who sings on their remake of "Everybody's Talkin' " from Midnight Cowboy.

"We did it in the demented way that Billy and I do everything," Shipp says.

Also singing, he says, was "believe it or not little Matt Damon. ... He was hanging with us in Nashville. We had a grand old time."

Peter Frampton, Andy Summers from the Police and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top also helped out. The high point may be yet to come when Johnny Cash adds a third verse to a song for them. Shipp says it's "kind of like bone-chilling for Billy and me."

Shipp and Thornton recorded in Houston in the 1980s "and did what I call a Frisbee record," Shipp says. "It was primarily used as Frisbees on the beaches of Galveston."

They were something of a ZZ Top tribute act. "It was pretty cheesy," he says.

During the shooting of SLING BLADE in 1995, actor and musician Dwight Yoakam played with the two. "We had a lot of neat little jam sessions with Dwight," Shipp says. Later, Thornton directed a Widespread Panic video at Shipp's house.

"It's not your average Hollywood guy wanting to sing," Shipp says of Thornton. "Billy plays drums and is good at it." Shipp says they're looking at doing shows to promote the music after the first of the year. The two are producing the album so they have creative control.

"I don't think anybody will really be disappointed," Shipp says. "I will promise you that."