CRAZY HEART, RYAN BINGHAM AND A THANK YOU TO OUTLAW COUNTRY

Crazy Heart was a really good movie that I recommend. It stars Jeff Bridges (aka "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski, one of my favorite films ever) as a Kristofferson/Jennings type country singer who is down on his luck, and the world has kind of passed him by, while his former protegee (a Paisley/Urban type played by Colin Farrell) has become a huge star. Well, that's not all it is about, but it is a great movie, so go see it.

But the music in the film is also notable. T-Bone Burnett was music supervisor (as he was for Lebowski and O Brother Where Are Thou, of course he has also produced recent great albums for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, B.B. King, Elvis Costello and others).

One song that takes a kind of central role in the film is "The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham. Here is an interview where he explains how he got invovled with T-Bone Burnette and the film (he and his band have a small role backing Bridges' character at -- of all things -- a bowling alley).

I was kind of familiar with Bingham - thanks to the fact that I listen to SIRIUS XM's Outlaw Country. I have some songs frmo his 2007 album Mescolito, which I recommend. It was cool of T-Bone and the film's director, Scott Cooper, to involve him and expose him to a larger audience.  The song is up for a Golden Globe, and if I were a voter, I would probably vote for it over songs by U2 and Paul McCartney. But if you like "Americana" or "hardcore troubadour"-type country music, check out Ryan Bingham.