Jeff Bridges

Recorded in Los Angeles and Brooklyn, NY, Jeff Bridges features material by a host of world-class songwriters, including Burnetts Crazy Heart collaborators the late Stephen Bruton (What A Little Bit of Love Can Do, Nothing Yet) and John Goodwin (Maybe I Missed The Point, Everything But Love, The Quest), Greg Brown (Blue Car), and Bo Ramsay (Either Way). The album also features several of Bridges own compositions, including Falling Short, Tumbling Vine, I Will Wait (which he wrote with Burnett and John Goodwin) and Slow Boat (which he wrote with Burnett and Thomas Cobb). To perform the songs, Burnett assembled a number of his key repertory players, including keyboardist Keefus Ciancia, guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist Dennis Crouch, pedal-steel guitarist Russ Pahl, and drummer Jay Bellerose, as well as guest vocalists Rosanne Cash, Ryan Bingham, Sam Phillips, and Benji Hughes.

Bridges and Burnett, who is known for his work with Allison Krauss and Robert Plant, Elton John and Leon Russell, and the Grammy-winning soundtracks to O Brother, Where Are Thou?, and Walk the Line, met in 1980 when Kris Kristofferson introduced them during the filming of the motion picture Heavens Gate. The relationship has continued over the years as Burnett selected the songs that appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, starring Bridges, as well as co-wrote several songs for the soundtrack to Crazy Heart, including The Weary Kind, which earned Burnett his second Oscar nomination and first win for Best Original Song, along with Bingham, who also took home an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy Award for co-writing The Weary Kind.