Under the heading “so old it’s new,” let us now consider Crazy Heart.
This movie’s story of a has-been country singer seeking and finding redemption was already quite familiar when Robert Duvall played a similar character in 1983’s Tender Mercies. But in the going-on-30 years since that film won hearts and Oscars, the movie business has gone in a whole other direction. It’s not just that the vast majority of films today rely on special effects to make their points. It’s that, even when they rely on actors more than computers, the stories they tell usually have an at-best nodding acquaintance with recognizable human beings doing recognizably human things. Screwing up relationships. Drinking too much. Doing their work the best they can.
So, it came as kind of a shock when, well into the film, this thought occurred to me: there’s no kind of foolishness in this movie at all. Everybody is acting like people that I know. Instead of the usual crap there is the magnificent wreckage of down-and-out country singer Bad Blake, played of course by Jeff Bridges, who deserves all the praise and Oscar talk that has been bestowed on him.
If you just look at the story, the clichés really do pile up. Bad is an alcoholic who sabotages relationships and his professional life with drunken behavior. Then he meets a good woman who loves him, but needs for him to straighten up and sober himself up. Which he proceeds to do, while reinventing himself as a songwriter in the process.
The clichés do break down at this point, and the movie finally goes in an unpredicatable, but satisfying direction.
Still, the tremendous pleasure the film bestows has little to do with its story. It’s mostly in the performance of Bridges, who mixes pride and emotional need in just the right proportions, and who looks like Waylon Jennings come back to life. And the songs, mostly written by the late Stephen Bruton and the great T-Bone Burnett, are characters in their own right. They add nearly as much emotional weight to the film as Bridges does.
Besides the novelty of its being about the trials and tribulations of a finally rather ordinary person, the movie had another surprise for me as a Houstonian. I hadn’t known that a good bit of the film is set here, if not shot here. (I think there’s just a single establishing shot of the skyline.)
But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised after all. Thomas Cobb, the author of the novel Crazy Heart, wrote the book under the tutelage of Donald Barthelme in the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. In a recent interview, Cobb even said that the character of Bad Blake was in large part based on the hard-drinking, chain-smoking Barthelme, who was about Bad Blake’s age when he died of cancer.
It’s a shock to think of the rough-hewn Blake as being inspired by the professionally ironic, jazz-loving postmodernist, but once you’re past the surprise you realize that Cobb was writing an alternative ending to the Barthelme story. Cobb may not have intended this—he published the novel before Barthelme got sick. But watching the fine film made from Cobb’s soulful novel, you can’t help but wish the old master had himself checked into rehab before it was too late. Watching Bad Blake do so gives the great consolation of art; it can correct the mistakes of life.
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Back on the River
Central Texas country music festival teases big names for 2025 return
Fans might not expect to see the likes of country superstar Eric Church in a tiny Central Texas town, but it's what they got at a new camping festival at a Gonzales ranch in April 2024. Now, the Cattle Country Music Festival is eyeing the space again for a return from April 10-12, 2025.
The festival sent out a save-the-date on July 23, promising a lineup "in the coming months." If last year is any indication, this may mean some big names in country music are forthcoming.
Alongside Church at the inaugural festival were more than 30 artists including Whiskey Myers, Koe Wetzel, and Tanya Tucker, constituting an impressive debut lineup and an even more surprising victory for a festival that's relatively out of the way. However, it's a great location for splitting audiences from Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, as long as they didn't mind a bit of a drive — a little over two hours from downtown Houston.
“We knew this festival was going to be special and unlike any other, but we are still in awe of the reception from the first year, with people from all over the state, country, and world still reaching out to us about how much fun they had,” said Cattle Country Music Festival founder Marcus Federman, who is based in Austin. “There is just something magical about listening to country music on a ranch surrounded by the Guadalupe River. Next year is going to be bigger and better, and we are going to bring the same spirit that captured all of us in the fest’s inaugural year.”
Besides a great lineup, this festival had nature on its side. It was held on a 400-acre ranch called “The Boot,” which includes about three miles of Guadalupe River banks and more than 150 pecan trees. That's where it will return in 2025, too.
Although crowded festivals like the Austin City Limits Music Festival get a lot of attention, more remote camping festivals tend to pull very loyal fan bases thanks to their expanded activities and opportunities for down time between shows; in this case, multiple places to swim.
Adjacent to the river were multiple bars, food vendors, shopping, and plenty of space to relax without straying from the main event. Campers could also bring their own food and certain types of grills.
Changes for the festival's second year will include more GA and VIP camping areas, more tents and a private glamping lounge in the Glamping Village, and more RV spaces and on-site amenities. More information about those is also coming soon.
Besides checking social media, audiences can keep up with news from the Cattle Country Music Festival by subscribing to its newsletter at cattlecountryfest.com.