CD review: “Crazy Heart” soundtrack
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Country
Various artists “Crazy Heart: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Deluxe Edition” (New West Records)
A cannily chosen combination of classic country, twangy blues and rootsy original songs bestow vital authenticity on “Crazy Heart,” the engrossing cinematic saga of washed-up, booze-ravaged country singer Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges).
Co-producers T Bone Burnett, a 10-time Grammy winner, and Stephen Bruton, a respected Texas guitarist/songwriter who died of cancer last year, capture the spirit of the film by tapping country pioneers like Buck Owens, Kitty Wells and Waylon Jennings. (Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” one of my all-time favorite country hits, perfectly suits the storyline.)
Country-blues songs from George Jones, Lightnin’ Hopkins and the Delmore Brothers also convey Bad Blake’s struggle to cast off his inner demons and find redemption.
In choosing more recent material to fit the modern story, the co-producers wisely eschew slick contemporary country in favor of roots singer-songwriters like Lucinda Williams, Sam Phillips and Ryan Bingham. Bingham and Burnett co-wrote the film’s evocative theme, “The Weary Kind,” for which they won a well-deserved Golden Globe.
But the stellar performances movie stars Bridges and Colin Farrell give on the other original songs are the album’s real revelation. Farrell’s Irish brogue is nowhere to be heard as he croons the spirited honky-tonker “Gone, Gone, Gone.”
As with the film, the soundtrack’s success hinges on Bridge’s superlative turn as a burned-out singer, which has won him a Golden Globe and made him an Oscar frontrunner. With his gravelly, world-weary drawl on “Hold on You,” “I Don’t Know” and “Fallin’ & Flyin’,” Bridges moves beyond merely playing a role to truly embodying — and giving voice to — Bad Blake.
— BAM
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