Jeff Bridges, Jeff Bridges - A Review

The self-titled debut album for the academy award winning actor realizes the promise of his musicality as witnessed in his Oscar awarded performance in Crazy Heart.

Produced by renowned songwriter/producer T-Bone Burnett, the album is carefully crafted to play to Bridges’ strengths as a mature performer yet a first time bona fide recording artist. Bridges’ voice and Burnett’s production are a comfortable fit, a trait of Burnett’s producing where the voice is always out front in the mix, see Raising Sand, the Grammy award Robert Plant & Alison Krauss album as an example.

Writing or co-writing three of the ten tracks, Bridges’ writing stray furthest away from the foundations laid by Burnett. Tumbling Vine has an almost circus procession feel to it evoking echoes of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite from Sergeant Peppers during the guitar solo.  The dreamy short prose of his writing somehow matches the straight talking yet mesmerizing lines delivered in many of his classic films.

Similarly, Bridge’s vocal delivery is as understated yet as powerful as his acting style. The world weariness of his performance, ably supported in harmony by backing fellow vocalists Benji Hughes and Sam Phillips, is accentuated by the constant droning and depth of the rhythm guitars tremolo setting which leaves the listener with the feeling that you are listening through a heat wave crossing a highway or waves of memories that haunt the characters of each song.

This self-titled album is an expectantly strong debut from someone who has a passion for music and performance his entire life.  This reviewer hopes that it is the beginning of a music career that is more than a mere after thought from what has been one of Hollywood’s most successful acting careers.

Highlight tracks include What a Little Bit of Love Can Do, Everything But Love, Tumbling Vine, Nothing Yet and Either Way.

Four Stars