Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Billy Bob Thornton

Behind the Scenes

“Why a Book Now?”

“Cave Full of Ghosts”

Chapter One: Alpine, Arkansas: God’s Country

Chapter Two: Character Study

Chapter Three: It’s Real Hard to Get Away with Shit

Chapter Four: My Mom and the Gift

Chapter Five: Don’t Ever Call Him Daddy

Chapter Six: Uncle Don and Them

Chapter Seven: Testifying Turkey Ass and Pawn Shop Prosthetics

Chapter Eight: “Dangerous News in Safe Town”

Chapter Nine: “In the Day”

Chapter Ten: “Saturday Afternoon a Half a Century On”

Chapter Eleven: “Providence”

Chapter Twelve: My Unremarkable College Career

Chapter Thirteen: “The Acid Room”

Chapter Fourteen: Dear Billy Bob

Chapter Fifteen: “Breakin’ Down”

Chapter Sixteen: “Pie in the Sky”

Chapter Seventeen: “An Island of My Own”

Chapter Eighteen: Rewriting Othello: The Othie and Desi Show

Chapter Nineteen: Let’s Don’t Start No Circus

Chapter Twenty: “When I Come Around”

Chapter Twenty-One: “Dead End Drive”

Chapter Twenty-Two: “Was That My Only Ride?”

Chapter Twenty-Three: “Hey Joe Public”

Chapter Twenty-Four: “Never Been Dead in My Life”

Chapter Twenty-Five: “The Walking Extinct”

Chapter Twenty-Six: To Billy Bob, from a Big Fan–Billy Wilder

Chapter Twenty-Seven: October 3, 1988

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Burt Reynolds Prophecy

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Sling Blade

Chapter Thirty: John Ritter

Chapter Thirty-One: You People

Chapter Thirty-Two: Viva la Independence

Chapter Thirty-Three: Black and White

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Singular Vision

Chapter Thirty-Five: Things Are Fucked Up at the North Pole

Chapter Thirty-Six: On the Front Porch: Conversations with Daniel Lanois

Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Simple Plan

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Pushing Tin

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Bandits

Chapter Forty: Angie

Chapter Forty-One: My Term as Mayor of the Sunset Marquis

Chapter Forty-Two: “Game of Shadows”

Chapter Forty-Three: The Ballad of the Alamo

Chapter Forty-Four: “There’s Always Somebody Watchin’”

Chapter Forty-Five: I Don’t Hate Canada

Chapter Forty-Six: My New Year’s Resolution: Try to Calm the Fuck Down

Chapter Forty-Seven: Jayne Mansfield’s Car

Chapter Forty-Eight: High Definition in a Cracker Box

Chapter Forty-Nine: Let’s Go See Movies Again

Chapter Fifty: Billy the Dad

Acknowledgments

Photo Section

About the Authors

Copyright

About the Publisher