Actor Jeff Bridges To Release Country Album This Summer

Oscar-winning actor and talented musician Jeff Bridges has signed with EMI’s Blue Note Records with a new album due out this summer. The actor has most recently been seen in films such as Crazy Heart, in which he played a downtrodden country singer, as well as True Grit and Tron.

Bridges will work on the project with his long-time friend T-Bone Burnett, who he met on the set of Heaven's Gate, three decades ago. Besides producing albums by Willie Nelson, and Alison Krauss with Robert Plant, Burnett co-wrote the music on Crazy Heart. Both men earned Oscars for their work on the film. For the new album, Bridges will contribute several of his own compositions, as well as covering Waits, Bo Ramsey, Greg Brown and Stephen Bruton and John Goodwin. Internet rumors say that Roseanne Cash and Elton John could be involved. Bridges and John have jammed together before, and Burnett produced the singer's recent album with Leon Russell.

"The music is a big force in me now," Bridges said in December. "I'm going on 61-years-old now and I've been playing since I was a teenager, and now for some reason all the stars are aligned and it's just coming out. That's my big dream."