New Music Releases- August 16, 2011

Honestly, it’s “slim pickings” this week as far as new album releases go. If you are a Jeff Bridges (yes, THAT Jeff Bridges) fan, you are in luck.

Jeff Bridges “Jeff Bridges”

Most people don’t realize Jeff Bridges was actually a musician before he went into acting. Bridges shined in the 2009 “Crazy Heart” film and the world got to see him show off his musician side. Working with producer T-Bone Burnett again, this self-titled album picks up where “Crazy Heart” left off.

Blue October “Any Man In America”

This is the 6th studio album from the band and this one is strong. Lead singer Justin Furstenfeld has described this new project as self reflection after recent life experiences. Furstenfeld has said this album is about his own life journey of heartbreak and healing. His breakup with his wife and recent custody battle over his daughter have been played out publicly.

“These past few years have been hell”, Furstenfeld said recently. “It’s been such a tough time dealing with my mental breakdown and the custody issues. All of my friends just disappeared from my life. It was just me and my songs in the studio for two years straight. I was only seeing my daughter every two months for four days – and that’s if she would show up. For example, I have to go pick her up tomorrow morning in Nebraska and bring her back to Texas for seven days. But she called me up this morning say that she didn’t want to be around me because of someone I’ve been seeing. I felt like saying, “I already bought the tickets. That’s your college fund I’m using up.” I feel a little strange being this honest with you, but I know there are a lot of men going through the same thing as I am right now.”

How is that for inspiration?

Breaking Benjamin “Shallow Bay: The Best Of Breaking Benjamin”

This is a “best of” collection with 15 of the biggest Breaking Benjamin tunes.

This is also an album met with controversy, causing the breakup of the band. BackstageOL wrote about this recently, click here to read that story.

If you are a hardcore fan of the band, you probably already have these songs in your collection.