SPIN

5

• SPIN Rating:5 of 10

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Release Date: August 16, 2011
Label: Blue Note/EMI

It's wholly understandable that most people would dismiss Jeff Bridges as an actor on a misguided vanity trip (lookin' at you, Paltrow), writing a clutch of songs on his sophomore release and enlisting a brainy cast (guitarist Marc Ribot and producer T Bone Burnett, who was also musical supervisor for, yes, The Big Lebowski). Bridges' country-fried drawl gets wonky (see the shuffling "Blue Car"), but when the pieces come together -- as on laid-back, folksy charmers like "Everything but Love" and "Maybe I Missed the Point" -- the result is as comfortable and unpretentious as the Dude's bathrobe.