The Musical Alchemy of Jeff Bridges

Yahoo

13-04-2025

One of the greatest things about acting is that it gives thespians a platform to explore their other creative pursuits. Iconic film and TV figure Lloyd Bridges imparted this to his sons, Beau and Jeff — who both got their start appearing on their dad's hit TV show, Sea Hunt, as children. 'He was so encouraging to all his kids to go into acting because he loved it so much,' Bridges says of his father. 'At the time, I said, 'Gee, Dad, I don't know. I like music.' And he said, 'Don't be ridiculous. You'll get a chance to do your music.' And he was right.' Bridges won the Oscar for his lead role as alcoholic country singer 'Bad Blake' in 2009's Crazy Heart. 'With Crazy Heart, it popped up,' Bridges says of his opportunities to incorporate his singing talent. Currently streaming on Hulu, the drama is a compelling character study that still holds up, with Bridges embodying the role with raw emotion and subtle realism. He adds, 'But this music thing has always been bubbling inside me.'He says that he was heavily influenced by his brother Beau. "He grew up in the era just before me...he's eight years older. So out of his room, I'd hear, you know, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly and those guys," he says. 'It's hard to beat that original sound, but my generation was the Beatles, Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen— all these really incredible artists. Also, there's Motown. Every era probably thinks they've got the best music but my era was really something. Then shortly after that, there was Captain Beefheart which I really got into."
His best-known role as 'The Dude' in the L.A.-based Coen Brothers' 1998 classic The Big Lebowski also opened a door for him, musically. Afterward, he recorded and toured with his band, The Abiders — a reference to his character Jeffrey Lebowski's famous line, 'The Dude abides.' And he made music after Crazy Heart with frequent collaborator T Bone Burnett and composer pal Keefus Ciancia — with whom he worked on an experimental project called Sleeping Tapes.During a session, Ciancia fell in love with one of Bridges' old cassettes from the 1970s and gave it to a friend at Light in the Attic Records. On Record Store Day (April 12), the label will release the record Jeff Bridges: Slow Magic 1977-1978, featuring previously unreleased material culled from that tape.'It brought together all of my old friends going back like 50 years,' Bridges says of Slow Magic, naming collaborators like John Goodwin, Steve Bain and Burgess Meredith. 'A lot of the history of the album has to do with these Wednesday night jams. We played music at my friend Steve's house and we'd make up songs — the rule was, no songs that had been recorded before.'He admits, 'Things got pretty crazy back then. We were all experimenting with drugs at that time. But I was also writing my own songs, so I invited those guys to come over to a little studio I had to record. That's the majority of what this album is about.'
In addition to the fun flashback of his music release, out digitally and on transparent blue vinyl for Record Store Day, Bridges is excited for 'An Evening with The Dude,' a special screening of The Big Lebowski on April 16 at the Orpheum Downtown. The event will combine a screening of the film with a showcase of Bridges' other creative passion — photography — featuring images he took on the set of the beloved comedy's cast and crew, such as the shot above with Sam Elliot.Bridges is also anticipating the release of the new Tron: Ares, in which he returns as video game creator Kevin Flynn as Jared Leto takes the lead role in the hi-tech fantasy. "Talk about music. Jared Leto—he's a great actor but his music is terrific," adds Bridges."When we did the original, we shot it 70 millimeter, black and white. And then it was all hand tinted by these women in Korea," Bridges reminisces about Tron. "The second Tron, I got scanned, and they put me into the computer, and they made a young version of myself. Now this next version is using all of the modern technology to make it even more thrilling and, you know, exciting. I have a smaller part, but it was great to be a part of the legacy."Sadly, his acclaimed FX/Hulu TV series The Old Man is not being renewed, but that leaves Bridges more time for his creative pursuits and humanitarian work with projects like No Kid Hungry. In addition to his music and photography, Bridges also paints, make ceramics and writes books. "It's all kind of coming from the same spot, which is getting out of the way and letting the thing come through, whatever wants to be born," he says. "you never know what's going to happen."More at Jeffbridges.com