Billy Bob Thornton's music career has been given a boost - his band The Boxmasters have signed a new record deal.

Executives at Nashville, Tennessee's 101 Ranch Records have picked up the band and plan to release the act's new single and double album later this year (14).

The movie star and his bandmates previously released three albums on Vanguard Records. Their second album, Modbilly, topped the Americana charts in the U.S. for two weeks in 2009.