Tricycle | Awake in the World

Last year, in an interview for Tricycle ("The Natural," Fall 2010), Katy Butler asked Jeff Bridges whether he thought of himself as a Buddhist. His answer? "A Buddhistly bent guy sounds kind of right."

I'm not sure whether this conversation took place before or after Bridges penned and recorded the songs for his recently released self-titled CD, but  it's clear now that "Buddhistly bent" is a phrase that he's fond of.

In "Tumbling Vine," one of the few songs on the album that Bridges wrote the lyrics for, he sings:

Here is the freedom
I have been sent
I'm delighted
I'm Buddhistly bent

Later in the song, sounding a little like his famous character the Dude, he says:

Here is my seat
I do not pay rent
I'm delighted
I'm Buddhistly bent

Right on, man. Jeff Bridges—the man and the album—is good. At least what I've heard of the album. It's bluesy country sounding music—the kind of thing you'd like to listen to if you were on an overnight bus ride or sitting on the edge of a canyon somewhere, thinking about stuff.