Album Review: Fear and Saturday Night by Ryan Bingham

Ryan BinghamFear and Saturday Night(Axster Bingham Records)4 out of 5 stars Most listeners probably thought Ryan Bingham would stroll down easy street after winning an Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice awards for his 2010 song “The Weary Kind,” prominently featured in the film Crazy Heart. After all, how many once obscure singer/songwriters have notched that sort of critical acclaim for a single tune? But nothing can be taken for granted in the music business. After leaving major label Lost Highway for whom he recorded three well received albums, Bingham ditched his long-time Dead Horses band and self-released 2012’s often sprawling and ornery Tomorrowland in an attempt to distance himself from the corporate machinery.

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Somewhere after his shot at the big time with the soundtrack to Crazy Heart, the 2009 film that won Jeff Bridges his long-deserved Oscar, Americana singer/songwriter Ryan Bingham wound up sliding back into indie status. A smaller scale suits Bingham and so does age, both developments enhancing his world-weariness. Fear and Saturday Night is a smaller-scale album than 2012's Tomorrowland and it's lighter, too, finding the Americana singer/songwriter settling into a comfortable ragged groove.

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Ryan Bingham Fear and Saturday Night (Axster Bingham) If 2012's Tomorrow­land forced Ryan Bing­ham to reckon with his past in confronting the death of his parents, dropping his band and major label, and largely eschewing the success of his hit Grammy and Oscar-winning "The Weary Kind," then the L. A. -based songwriter's fifth LP finds him focused solidly in the present.

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