Shooter Jennings Has Made An Album With Right-Wing Hollywood Pariah James Woods

Shooter Jennings Has Made An Album With Right-Wing Hollywood Pariah James Woods

“Nyah… I’m not a singer.” Remember that? In 1994, James Woods played himself on a classic Simpsons episode. He gets a job at the Kwik-E Mart to prepare for a role, and an armed robber, who recognizes Woods, inexplicably tells him that his next song will be #3 with a bullet. Well, James Woods is still not a singer, but he did just make an album with country-music nepotism case Shooter Jennings. I would not expect any of the songs to chart that high.

When he showed up on The Simpsons, James Woods, was an awesomely twitchy screen presence — one of those character actors who’s so good that he becomes a leading man. That guy had a real run: Videodrome, Once Upon A Time In America, Cop, Salvador, Casino, Any Given Sunday. In recent years, though, Woods has turned hard right-wing, tweeting election disinformation and a picture of Hunter Biden’s dick. In the process, he has rendered himself virtually unemployable as an actor. He hasn’t appeared in a live-action movie since his agent dropped him in 2017. (Woods was, however, credited as an executive producer on Oppenheimer, since he owned the rights to the book upon which the Christopher Nolan film was based.)

Now, James Woods has teamed up with Shooter Jennings, the fringey country musician and producer, to tell his life story in an album called Hear The Thunder Crack. The record’s marketing describes it as “an expansive poetic journey into the mind and life of legendary Hollywood icon James Woods.” Over a period of years, Jennings, the son of outlaw country icons Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, turned Woods’ poetry into a kind of autobiographical album. Here’s what Woods says about the record, according to Mediaite:

Throughout my Hollywood career, people encouraged me to write a book about my life. Celebrity “tell-alls” never appealed to me, though, because I don’t care about frivolous things. I yearned to share stories that moved me in my life, authentic tales that lifted my spirits or broke my heart. When the great Shooter Jennings once casually suggested I write song lyrics, I was skeptical. When I put pen to paper, however, these whispers from the heart expressed themselves in ways I never imagined. And when Shooter then put them to music, my life changed forever. I can’t wait to share them with you.

If you’re curious, you can hear the singles “The Road Back” and “Hollywood Kills Everything” below.

Hear The Thunder Crack is out 10/18, and you can pre-order it directly from James Woods. Just $76 for the vinyl!

more from New Music