Report: Ryan Bingham @ the Grammy Museum

Last night (Sept. 1) at the Grammy Museum in L.A., the acclaimed up-and-coming singer-songwriter talked and twanged about his career to date.

By Jose Martinez

Celebrating the release of Junky Star, the third full length disc on Lost Highway for Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Ryan Bingham, the affable musician delighted a audience of 200 fans, including actor Bill Pullman, at the Grammy Museum with a discussion about his career and life after "The Weary Kind" before playing an energetic six-song set.

Best known for penning and singing "The Weary Kind," the hauntingly beautiful theme song for the acclaimed film Crazy Heart, Bingham admits there were quite a few "people tugging at [his] sleeve" after winning both the Golden Globe and Academy Award, forcing him to deal with "months of smoke and mirrors" but his latest effort, Junky Star, recorded in only three days with producer T Bone Burnett, continues to showcase the stellar abilities of an honest artist.

"When there are a lot of people around saying, ‘look, you have to capitalize on this and do something really commercial,' you might think about it for a second, but at the end of the day, there's not a chance in hell I could do that," the now LA-based singer points out. "It made me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. I couldn't get up in front of people and play a bunch of stuff that didn't mean anything to me."

Originally from New Mexico and raised all across the Southwest, the former professional bull rider, who admits to being involved with junior rodeos like kids playing little league baseball, joked he keeps his Oscar in his bathroom, noting, "It's the only room with a shelf."

With his gritty, whiskey-soaked vocals, Bingham recounts dark tales on Junky Star. Talking about life on the wrong side of the tracks, familiar territory for the former homeless singer, Bingham sings powerful and gripping songs with a voice reminiscent of Mellencamp and Waits.

With his band, The Dead Horses, at his side, the tight four-piece tore through half a dozen news songs from Junky Star: "The Poet," "Strange Feelin' In The Air," "Junky Star," "Depression," "Hallelujah" and "Direction of the Wind."

Bingham's Junky Star is available now, just in time as the band hits the road opening for country legend Willie Nelson before mounting a headlining tour including a December 5 stop at Santa Monica's Bergamot Station benefiting Stand Up For Kids.