Crazy Heart guitars.

I just watched the 2008 film Crazy Heart, the one with Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, a down-on-his-luck country singer-songwriter. There are quite a few interesting guitars in this movie, and they help to convey something about the story and the characters who use them.

Bad's stage electric is a relic'ed Gretsch G6122 1959 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman, the hardware of which he lovingly polishes in one scene. This guitar is associated with Chet Atkins, of course, and thus has an aura of the Country Gentleman, the southern man with impeccable manners and upward mobility. The Stratoblogster blog uses the term "rustic regal" to describe another guitar, and it fits this guitar as well. It is also associated with George Harrison, which has increased its vintage value. These connotations attached to the Gretsch are at odds with Bad's character early in the film, as he drunkenly stumbles through a disastrous performance. But when he finds redemption through love, the Gretsch confirms Bad's persona as a seasoned class act who has paid his dues.

His other guitar is a Gibson J-45 with batwing pickguard, probably from the fifties, with many dings and scratches. This guitar is less pampered than the Gretsch, as is shown in the scene when Maggie Gyllenhall's character goes to sit down in a chair where the Gibson has been left, and Bad carelessly tosses it onto a nearby cushion. This seems to indicate the centrality of music in Bad's life - it is propped in a chair like a person - and his willingness to give this attractive stranger (Gyllenhall) a similar place of privilege.


More neutrally, a Kyser capo and a tweed Fender Vibrolux amp are seen, along with a Strat, Guild acoustic and a strange Tele with a three-on-a-side headstock as played by Ryan Bingham in Bad's first backup band. A nice cream Tele, played by Buddy Miller, shows up later, in the soundcheck scene when Bad is about to open for Tommy, played by Colin Farrell. Tommy's guitar is a sunburst Gibson J-200, which is as collectible as Bad's J-45 but is far flashier, as befits Tommy's character.

After all of this American guitar goodness, it's a bit of a letdown that an Epiphone AJ-220E, signed by Jeff Bridges, Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett, was given away by CMT and other media companies as a promotional contest.