Jeff Bridges abides

Jeff Bridges is one of the most versatile actors out there. While it was his role as The Dude in The Big Lebowski that made him hip to generations of film fans, Bridges has appeared in a number of classics—from fantasy flicks like King Kong and Tron, to more serious parts in The Fisher King and 2009’s Crazy Heart, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

He’s also a musician, and is one helluva nice dude. He and his band The Abiders have been recording and touring for the better part of five years, and they released a self-titled live album this past summer. Bridges took some time to talk to the CN&R about the similarities between music and movies, picking up the guitar at a young age, and songs about King Kong.

Jeff Bridges: It’s very much like making movies. You’re working with a lot of other artists; you’re traveling around. Right now we’re on the way to the airport, having spent a beautiful day in Tucson. I just took an incredible walk among this forest of saguaro, these giant, classic cactuses. It’s unique in that I get to travel with my good buddies, The Abiders. My wife’s in the back seat—she’s my groupie.

I don’t know. I guess it’s that old nature/nurture question. I suppose by nurture, I think about my family, my parents that raised me in a loving household. I guess the nature part is being born with a certain personality. It’s hard to answer the how or why with that stuff.

I don’t know. I’ve run across so many actors and people who, to me, seem quite well-rounded. A lot of it has to do with luck, too. There are some talented people that don’t get recognized and others who are lucky to be recognized.

I would say around 14 maybe, somewhere in there.

For me it kind of goes back before that. My brother Beau, he’s eight years older than I am, so the music that was making a lot of hits was Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly. Those guys. That was the music that hooked me first. My dad had a guitar he couldn’t play because he had some problems with his fingers, so I kinda took that over. Then my brother got a Danelectro guitar that he started playing and writing songs and stuff.

There are more similarities than differences, really. There’s solo time, where you’re studying the script or writing the song. And you’ve got the times where you’re jamming with other artists—actors and musicians.

Well, [laughs] I’m kind of realizing this teenage dream late in my life—I’m 65 years old—and I wanted to bring some attention to what we were up to. Lebowski’s probably my most popular film, and we were throwing around different things. I wanted us to be called The Royal We, another, more subtle, Lebowski reference. Our pedal steel player Bill Flores brought up the name The Abiders. I was like, “Oh yeah, The Abiders, it’s so obvious!”

[Laughs] Yeah. I laugh because a lot of stuff comes to mind with that. We used to pretend to be sick and ditch school back when I was in grammar school so I could watch the original. I’d see in the TV Guide that it was on TV, and I’d say, “I’m not feeling well, Mom.” So to be in that movie [the 1976 version featuring Jessica Lange], that was terrific. I actually wrote a song about that whole experience that one day will come out. Maybe on the next album.