Sunday Music Vids: BILLY BURKE

Published on Sunday, November 27 2011

Written by Katie Marzullo

Actor Billy Burke (not to be confused with actress Billie Burke, who played Glenda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz... though the resemblance is admittedly uncanny) is best known around these here parts as Bella Swan’s pops, Charlie, in the Twilight film series. Far from his only gig, though, Billy has been working steadily in film and television since the ‘90s, appearing in seven episodes of “24”, four episodes of “My Boys”, and lending his talents to such films as Along Came a Spider, Ladder 49, and Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood. He also co-wrote indie horror-comedy Dead and Breakfast, which I’ve seen and you should too, cuz it’s really funny.

Naturally, Billy’s stock has risen quite a bit with the Twilight series, and he currently has two upcoming feature films in post-production (Freaky Deaky and Highland Park), so keep an eye out for those too.

What you may not know about dear old Papa Swan is that he is a rather talented musician as well. He stopped by the YH Studio very recently to tell us all about his album, Removed, and its unprecedented success on CDBaby.com. He has another album in the works as of this writing, and a couple music videos already exist for your viewing and listening pleasure. His sound is pretty much what you might expect -- acoustic and folksy, and his haunting, gravelly voice brings to mind other heavy-hitters like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

With the Twilight films quickly coming to a conclusion, it’s great to see that Billy has other pursuits outside of acting with which he can occupy his time and keep his creative juices flowing!

Check out his music videos for “Removed” and “Pollyanna Rose” (named after his wife) below:

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

@YHKatie

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