
Sampling the
Crazy Heart soundtrack at KALX for my show a couple weeks ago I instantly fell in love with Jeff Bridges's portrayal of past-his-prime country singer Bad Blake. And that was just from his voice on the CD, before I'd even seen the movie. Without Bridges
Crazy Heart would be thoroughly average fare, following the predictable biopic-esque arc of a man's journey from the edge of destitution to redemption. Bridges puts his entire soul into his performance, however, backed up by the always-luminous Maggie Gyllenhaal and music composed by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham so memorable I've been humming the songs to myself for weeks now. Seriously, buy the soundtrack. Bridges does all of his own singing in the film, as does Colin Farrell in a small role as Tommy Sweet, the Bad Blake protégé who with his youth and more commercial appeal is selling out stadiums while his former mentor plays in piano bars and bowling alleys (an opening location I chose to take as a nod to
The Big Lebowski). The film's loyalties clearly lie with the older generation of "real" country musicians instead of the many slicked-up over-produced messes currently coming out of Nashville, and if you listen to my show you know who I prefer too.