On the heels of Oscar-noted performances in the films Crazy Heart and True Grit, actor Jeff Bridges returns to his first love – music. While his initial foray into recorded music received little attention (2000’s Be Here Now), his T Bone Burnett-helmed sophomore effort, Jeff Bridges, is destined to receive a well-deserved, longer and brighter spotlight.

What’s the first album you bought as a kid?

I remember the first 45 I bought was “Wake Up Little Susie” [performed by The Everly Brothers]. I can picture their wonderful album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, though that might have been my brother Beau’s. He’s eight years old than I am, so I got the benefit of all his music. His generation was the birth of rock and roll with Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly and all those guys.

There’s the perennial question about authenticity – that you really need to experience life to sing about the blues or heartbreak. Given that you seem to be a happily married man of 30 with a successful career, why is your album so melancholy?

One of the words you used there was “seem.” I certainly have a lot of happiness and joy in my life, live a fortunate life and I’m lucky in many ways, but I’m still a human being. I experience the gamut of emotions. I think [the album] is indicative of that.

I suspect most people don’t realize that you’ve been involved with music for nearly 40 years. I think there’s an assumption that you only recently got involved with it through your portrayal of the hard-living country singer Bad Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart.

My father [famed actor Lloyd Bridges], unlike like a lot of show biz guys, was very gung-ho about turning his kids onto acting. Like most kids, you don’t want to do what your parents want you to do. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. And I seriously thought about music but the acting thing took off and it turned out that I enjoyed it a lot. So music got put on the back burner but one of the great things about acting is that you get to use all your talents in life; things that are interesting to you.

Is there an upside or downside for an album coming on the heels of a music-focused movie like Crazy Heart ?

I’d say there’s mainly an upside. Making Crazy Heart certainly lit a fire under my own music. I got to play with all these great musicians – my dear friend Stephen Bruton, T Bone – it stirred up all that music. I figured if there was ever a time to put out an album, it’d be now because of the atmosphere that you’re releasing something like this in. It was a natural happening.

*You and Kris Kristofferson – along with T Bone – met on the set of Heaven’s Gate 30 years ago and have all remained friends. How often do people confuse you and Kris?

[Laughs.] The two of us get a kick out of it – feels like we’re looking in the mirror sometimes. We have a good laugh at it. I guess other people do, too.

You spent much of the Heaven’s Gate filming jamming with Hawks’ founder Ronnie Hawkins. How did this come about?

Kris, who was the star of that movie, brought a lot of his music buddies onboard. Michael Cimino, the director, didn’t want anybody to leave the location even if you weren’t working. A lot of times, you wouldn’t be working for weeks at a time. So we’d play music – Ronnie, [harmonica player/singer] Norton Buffalo, Bruton [and others].

Who else have you enjoyed collaborating with?

It was wonderful playing on the Speaking Clock tour last year that T Bone put together – Leon Russell, Elton John, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder, Kristofferson. I particularly dug hanging out with Elvis Costello – he sang on some tunes. It was a wonderful tour playing with all kinds of great guys. I’ve been fortunate that way. I even got to pick with [Bob] Dylan one time. We made a movie together [ Masked and Anonymous (2003)] and Bob knocked on my trailer and said, “Hey, you wanna pick?” I said, “You kiddin’?!”