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No doubt 2008 will be a year of firsts for Chris Thomas King, the Baton Rouge native, singer-songwriter and actor. Through his own label 21st Century Blues Records, the son of bluesman Tabby Thomas will release his first “best of” compilation and his first live album. He recently completed filming his first role as someone other than a musician. “I play a cop,” King says of his part in the Steven Seagal actioner, A Higher Form of Learning. “Sort of the good cop to his bad cop.”

King makes a rare appearance April 19 in Baton Rouge for a concert at Chelsea’s Café. The 45-year-old blues fusion explorer recently signed a deal to contribute to a book about Tabby’s Blues Box & Heritage Hall, and spent time sifting through 160 recorded tracks to decide a running order for his upcoming “best of.”

Undaunted by that task, King also listened back to hours of live performances and chose a 1997 concert at B.B. King Blues Club in Memphis to release Live on Beale Street.

“Nowadays a lot of people know me through my movies, playing period characters like the Robert Johnson-type in O Brother, Where Art Thou? or Lowell Fulson in Ray,” King says. “They don’t know I used to have long hair and cranked up a Strat through Marshall Amps.”

Steeped in the blues tradition of his father and having recorded and played with greats like B.B. King and the late Ray Charles, King is a self-professed perfectionist. His next project predates his recent stellar post-Katrina set, Rise, and has been more than three years in the making. “With technology, anyone can make a record now or put a video on YouTube,” King muses. “Which means that when true artists make their work, it should be obvious that it’s from a true artist.” christhomasking.com

For a full schedule of Blues Week shows, click here.