In Contention

Tag: T-Bone Burnett

  • Bingham wins a Grammy, set for Bonnaroo

    I didn’t see the Grammys this weekend.  In fact, I tend to avoid them like the plague.  But it was nevertheless an impressive slate of winners, so that’s a unique start.

    In any case, it’s worth pointing out that Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett’s “The Weary Kind” wrapped up a long awards march by taking the award for Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media.  So add that to a list of accolades that includes an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Critic’s Choice Movie Award, and the Americana Music Association “Song of the Year” honor.  A great ride indeed.

    “It’s incredible,” Bingham said to press backstage at the Grammys. “It’s been a hell of a ride. All this stuff flies by so fast and happens so quick. Afterward you look back on it, let it soak in, and see what it’s all about.”

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  • AMPAS welcomes 135 new members

    Well, we already knew Jeremy Renner had got the nod. And no surprise that many of his fellow acting nominees from this year’s Oscar race — Christoph Waltz, Mo’Nique, Carey Mulligan, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick among them — have now been granted Academy membership. (Lest you think that the invitation automatically follows a nomination, Saoirse Ronan only gets in now, two years after her nod.)

    Other inclusions from Oscar’s class of 2009 include directors Lee Daniels and Juan  Jose Campanella, writers Mark Boal, Geoffrey Fletcher, Neill Blomkamp, Nick Hornby and Tom McCarthy, cinematographers Barry Ackroyd and Christian Berger, musician T-Bone Burnett, editors Bob Murawski and Joe Klotz, sound designer Paul N.J. Ottosson and costumer Catherine Leterrier.

    More thoughts, and the full list of 135 invitees, after the cut.

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  • New Ryan Bingham album on the way

    I’ve been meaning to address this nearly two-week old press release since I got back, but last year’s Best Original Song winner has a new album coming at the end of the summer.  “Junky Star” from Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses hits stores September 7.  An added bonus: T Bone Burnett, music supervisor on “Crazy Heart” and co-writer of the Oscar-winning track “The Weary Kind,” produced the album.

    “Burnett created a recording environment that perfectly complemented the themes and textures of Bingham’s reflective songwriting,” the press release reads.  “The tracks…range from narratives with vivid imagery…to introspective confessionals…to bluesy roadhouse stomps…to Sticky Fingers-era Stones.”  Oh yeah, and according to Burnett, they finished it in three days.  Can’t wait to pick it up.

    You can hear a couple of songs from “Junky Star” at BinghamMusic.com.  Have a listen to a portion of one of them, “Depression,” below.

    [audio:http://www.incontention.com/audio/depression-brief.mp3]

  • Interviews with the winners

    Geoffrey Fletcher at the 82nd annual Academy AwardsBefore we close the book on 2009, here’s one last rundown of our interviews with this year’s Oscar recipients.  It was lovely to meet with them all as this was truly, for the most part, a season of camaraderie.

    “The Cove”
    Louie Psihoyos (Best Documentary Feature)

    “Crazy Heart”
    Jeff Bridges (Best Actor)
    Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Best Original Song)

    “The Hurt Locker”
    Mark Boal (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay)
    Chris Innis and Bob Murawski (Best Film Editing)
    Paul Ottosson (Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing)

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Music (Original Song)

    Nora Arnezeder in Paris 36Year after year, the original song category tends to prove that something is broken in the music branch of the Academy.  But to be fair, that’s a bit of a half-truth overall, as the original score field has begun to loosen up a bit and allow for newbie talent to get a foot in the door as of late.

    Still, when it comes to voting on the songs with a seemingly arbitrary system, not to mention a rash of rules that feel made up along the way (and overtly subjective at that), the branch certainly makes a given tune earn it with one hell of an uphill climb along the way.  That having been said, the category nailed down a decent slate of nominees this season.

    The nominees are:

    “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Randy Newman)
    “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Randy Newman)
    “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36”     (Reinhardt Wagner; Frank Thomas)
    “Take It All” from “Nine” (Maury Yeston)
    “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” (T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham)

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  • 2/17 Oscarweb Round-up

    • David Poland sits down with Mark Boal and, separately, Paul Ottosson and Ray Beckett to talk “The Hurt Locker.” [The Hot Blog]

    • Saoirse Ronan talks “The Lovely Bones” across the pond. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Chris Jones profiles Roger Ebert, the man and his thumbs. [Esquire]

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  • Running out of things to print?

    I’m sorry, but this excuse for journalism at the New York Times is embarrassingly thin and, in my opinion, incredibly irresponsible.  What are you going on, family disputes?  Where’s the beef?  Who the heck thought this was a story when there isn’t an ounce of actual news to be found?  Is the Gray Lady in the business of rumor mongering and hearsay?  Sad.

  • The nominees react

    Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy HeartThroughout the morning and early afternoon we took statements from or hopped on the phone with 44 of today’s Oscar nominees.  Their reactions…

    Maggie Gyllenhaal, supporting actress, “Crazy Heart”:

    The thing is, you know, I’m so proud of the movie and I always have been, more proud of it than any of the work I’ve done so far.  But because I wasn’t getting nominated for anything, I wasn’t expecting it.  My phone was ringing so early and I thought, “Wait, maybe!”   I was staying at my brother’s in LA.  He said to me, “Your phone is going to be ringing all day.”  He made me a cup of coffee and then we watched the sun rise.  It was pretty mellow.  But this wouldn’t be happening for Jeff [Bridges] or me if it wasn’t for Scott [Cooper].

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  • Reaching the populace with ‘Crazy Heart’

    Jeff Bridges in Crazy HeartWith “Crazy Heart” expanding more throughout the country and expecting, no doubt, a bit of an exposure bump after Tuesday’s Oscar nominations announcement, Fox Searchlight is stepping up its game and doing a nice job of getting the music out there.

    I stumbled across TheWearyKind.com last week, a nifty bit of social networking that allows musicians (of any level of talent, believe me) to upload their cover of Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett’s theme from the film.  The first video on the grid is Bingham performing it at the Los Angeles press day, but the second one I hadn’t seen.  It’s Jeff Bridges performing it in front of Peter Travers (I think).  The rest are user entries.

    Meanwhile, RecordStoreDay.com is offering up a contest whose winner I’d be incredibly jealous of.  The prize: an Epiphone AJ-200S acoustic guitar autographed by Bridges, Burnett and Bingham (suddenly I’m aware of the alliteration on this project).

    We’ll see tomorrow if the film can manage surprise nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and/or Best Picture, but for now, the road is pretty well paved for Bridges (who showed up at last night’s Grammys to introduce a performance tribute to Les Paul).

  • Buy it

    Cover of the Crazy Heart motion picture soundtrackThe “Crazy Heart” deluxe edition soundtrack hit stores today along with a streamlined, standard version, and it’s a must own if you like the movie or this kind of music.  There are little treasures sprinkled throughout that you get for a couple extra bucks, like a modified instrumental version of “Somebody Else” from Stephen Bruton, the killer “Joy” from Lucinda Williams, some lovely accompanying tracks from George Jones, Kitty Wells, The Delmore Brothers and Lydia Mendoza.  Oh yeah, and Thomas Canning’s piano riff from the film.

    I’ve been listening to Waylon Jenning’s “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” for a few weeks now, but I’m all over this.  In case you missed it last week, Ryan Bingham recently performed “The Weary Kind” on The Late Show with David Letterman.

    Last year when I walked out of “Slumdog Millionaire,” one of the first things I asked was if the soundtrack was going to be released, because it was fantastic.  This after “Juno” had already covered similar terrain a year earlier.  “Crazy Heart” was obviously a no-brainer on that front, so the studio should have another hit on its hands (thanks especially to T Bone Burnett, of course, for putting it all together).  Someone give that music division a raise.

  • OFF THE CARPET: All Globed out

    Jeff Bridges at the 2010 Golden Globe AwardsAs it turned out, the only celebration I made it to last night was Fox’s Globes after-party at Craft in Century City.  Given that “Avatar” and “Crazy Heart” were two of three films to win more than one Globe (the other being Pixar’s “Up”), it kind of felt like the place to be.

    The early part of the evening was dominated by the “Crazy Heart” crew.  I came in with Ryan Bingham and Scott Cooper, the latter dumbfounded at how certain celebs were getting his number to send well-wishes and praise for his little film.  Bingham, meanwhile, told me he was at the bar when the Best Original Song category was announced, which explains why T Bone Burnett accepted solo.  “Sorry for partyin’,” Bingham told me.  “Story of my life.”

    Burnett, it turns out, will be producing Bingham’s next album.

    Meanwhile, you could follow the bursts of applause to locate Jeff Bridges, who took down the Best Actor in a Drama trophy when many thought George Clooney would register with the, shall we say, star-friendly HFPA.  Then again, whoever said Bridges wasn’t a star?  And judging by the standing ovation, his second of the weekend (everyone was on their feet Friday, too), you can expect his steamroll through the season to continue next weekend at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and then, ultimately: the Oscar.  Interesting to note his lawyer advised him not to take the part, I assume thinking it wasn’t high enough on a scale of exposure.

    And yet here we are.

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  • T Bone, Bridges and Bingham on Nashville radio

    Fox Searchlight tweeted a link to this interview earlier today. The usual talking points but with the film expanding a bit more this weekend I thought I’d pass it along:

  • ‘Wild Things,’ ‘Crazy Heart’ ineligible for score Oscar

    Where the Wild Things AreSteve Pond reports that Karen O and Carter Burwell’s wonderful, Golden Globe-nominated score for “Where the Wild Things Are” has been disqualified for Best Original Score by the Academy’s music branch. T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton’s “Crazy Heart” score, which has taken several critics’ prizes, will not compete either.

    It’s hardly a surprise, given that both are largely song-based scores — not that that stopped “Slumdog Millionaire” qualifying last year. But it is disappointing, particularly for the former film, which was campaigning for a nomination in the category. (Fox Searchlight, presumably anticipating a disqualification, didn’t bother listing Original Score in the FYC ads for “Crazy Heart.”)

    Also out of the race is “The Lovely Bones,” though that is by composer Brian Eno’s own volition. Pond has the details, as well as a list of the 81 films that did qualify for the category, here.

  • Listen to Jeff Bridges’s ‘Somebody Else’ from ‘Crazy Heart’

    Jeff Bridges in Crazy HeartToday we’re wrapping up the “listen to” series of featured tracks in this year’s Best Original Song race.  We spotlighted 17 contenders in total, not all of which made the eventual eligibility cut, of course.  But it’s been a nice way of giving the field it’s proper due.

    Surprisingly enough, only one other song from “Crazy Heart” joined “The Weary Kind” on this year’s list of eligible contenders.  That song was “Somebody Else,” which is in fact the first tune we hear Jeff Bridges’s Bad Blake character sing in the film.  The opening lyric was a particular favorite of songwriter T Bone Burnett’s: “I used to be somebody.  Now I am somebody else.”

    It’s a great moment because it introduces you to the killer soundtrack that will unfold for the next two hours and because it sheds a compelling light on the film’s central character, a man clinging to his past when he has long outgrown it.

    Have a listen below and tell us what you think.

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  • Talking ‘The Weary Kind’

    Speaking of original song contenders, we featured Ryan Bingham’s “The Weary Kind” a few weeks ago, but the New Mexico-bred crooner sat down with music consultant T Bone Burnett and “Crazy Heart” writer/director Scott Cooper at the film’s press day two weekends back to discuss the process of writing the soulful track.  Much of this you probably already know from reading my interview with Bigham and Burnett, but it’s nice to hear the two discussing it with Cooper.  Fox Searchlight recently made this video of the chat available, so take a look:

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Song

    Jeff Bridges in Crazy HeartOver the last five months, Gerard has diligently canvassed and re-canvassed the various crafts categories here at In Contention.  The one category we have held back on all this time, as contenders have slowly fallen into place, was Best Original Song.  Today, it’s time to dig into the field.

    This has turned into something of a banner year for original songs in feature films.  We’ve had the great pleasure of bringing a number of hopefuls to you via our “listen to” posts, and look forward to continuing that into the new year.  But inevitably, frontrunners are bound to show up, and I think we can successfully narrow the field now.

    Before diving in, it’s worth reiterating the voting process in this category.  I’ll simply let the Academy’s rule book speak for itself:

    “An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the motion picture. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the motion picture or as the first music cue in the end credits.

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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The music of ‘Crazy Heart’

    T Bone BurnettThis marks the first of this year’s Tech Support interviews series with below-the-line crafts personnel, an annual feature at In Contention.

    When Scott Cooper’s adapted screenplay “Crazy Heart” was making the rounds a few years ago, it had the kind of soul a guy like T Bone Burnett wants out of a country-western film. But as far as musical accompaniment was concerned, it was a blank canvas.

    A close friend of actor Jeff Bridges dating back to their time together on Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate,” Burnett was the selling point when the actor began toying around with the idea of playing Bad Blake in the film. With Burnett came longtime friend and musician Stephen Bruton. With Bridges came his own longtime friend, John Goodwin. With a modest writers’ table assembled (including, of course, Cooper himself), the task then became searching for a voice with an array of original songs for the film.

    “There’s a Nashville voice that comes really from Lefty Frizelle,” Burnett says. “And then Merle Haggard was the next, and there’ve been hundreds of people who’ve learned to sing from Merle Haggard and Lefty. Most of the country singers are essentially in that tambour. Jeff is a whole different thing. So we began looking for prototypes, so to speak, and the first prototype to me was Leonard Cohen, who’s a great writer and sang with a deep chest voice like Jeff did. Don Williams as well, who was a big country star in the 70s, big and good, too, and very much an individual. So we started looking for those kinds of voices that could be country music.”

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  • Do the Coens have their eyes set on a singing cowboy?

    singing cowboyA few hours ago I sat down with T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham to talk about the songs from “Crazy Heart.” I’ll be cooking up that piece as the introductory installment of our Tech Support interview series with below-the-line and craft personnel tomorrow, but Burnett mentioned something that totally caught my attention about a potential Coen brothers film..

    Of course, the Coens have had a number of projects stall out over the years, or more to the point, they’ve managed to leave some things on the back burner.  Everyone is still waiting for stuff like “To the White Sea” and “Hail Caesar,” after all.  But Burnett told me that it was actually the Coens who told him about Ryan Bingham, the singer/co-writer of “The Weary Kind,” who they were exposed to while filming “No Country for Old Men” in Marfa, Texas a few years back.

    “One of the things they have on the horizon includes a singing cowboy and they were thinking Ryan Bingham would be good,” Burnett said.

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