Although best known as an actor, Jeff Bridges, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges, has also been a singer, musician, and songwriter. He released his first album, Be Here Soon, in 2000, a polished affair that featured pop, rock, and country songs either written or co-written by Bridges. His stature as a singer and musician rose with his role as over-the-hill-and-sliding-down-it country singer Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 movie Crazy Heart, a film where Bridges did his own singing and even added original songs to the soundtrack, and it was also a role that brought Bridges an Academy Award for Best Actor. A second album, the self-titled Jeff Bridges, produced by T-Bone Burnett, was released by Blue Note Records in 2011. He did increasing shows and tours with his band the Abiders (named after his role as the Dude Who Abides in the 1998 iconic cult film The Big Lebowski), which included Bridges (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Pelonis (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Bill Flores (pedal steel, guitar), Randy Tico (upright, electric bass), and Tom Lackner (drums, percussion). Billed as Jeff Bridges & the Abiders, the band did a summer concert run at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas in 2014, all of which was recorded and led to the Pelonis-produced 14-track Live album later that same year. ~ Steve Leggett