Modest movies about musicians suit Jeff Bridges right down to the ground. He starred with brother Beau in 1989's "The Fabulous Baker Boys," an engaging gem about sibling lounge pianists with opposing ambitions.

Now this fine actor trades in the piano for the guitar in "Crazy Heart." Directed by first-time helmer Scott Cooper, it's a traditionally constructed tale about professional and personal failure and the possibility of redemption.

Bridges plays Bad Blake, an outlaw country music singer from the Willie-Waylon-Kris school. Bad is skidding down the back slope of a career that included a degree of stardom, good writing and regular money. At 57, he's a fading legend who's been "rode hard and put up wet."

He's had more marriages than most country tunes have chord changes. He chain smokes, guzzles booze like ice tea in August and travels from gig to gig in a beat-up Chevy Suburban. He has a grown son whom he hasn't seen since the boy was 4. His venues include bowling alleys and small, dimly lit lounges. His groupies have as many wrinkles as he does, and they snore as he sneaks away from these third-rate romances and low-rent rendezvous.

Then Bad meets Jean Craddock, a journalist played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Jean is a fan, and she's doing an interview when chemistry begins to percolate. She's the divorced mother of a young boy, and Bad takes to both of them. At his age, he begins to imagine what a life off the road could be.

But then there's the issue of money: Bad doesn't even have enough to buy a bottle of his favorite bourbon. Always hovering over Bad is the huge success of his former main back-up musician.

Tommy Sweet, played by Colin Farrell, is the new country star. He's from the current Nashville rock star school of commercialized country. What little financial success Bad has achieved in recent years has come from his association with his former sideman and the resentment simmers.

To the movie's enormous credit, it doesn't take on "A Star is Born" attitude. Tommy's not a bad guy who turns his back on his past, but corporate dynamics will only let him do so much for his mentor. He tells Bad to write some new material, and he'll record it. But Bad's muse has been drowned in alcohol and a weary life on the road.

Though new to the director's art, Cooper demonstrates a confident grasp of this material based on a Thomas Cobb novel. He establishes a flavorful sense of roadside America. There's a sense of predictability in the plot as Bad's decline continues, but Cooper handles it with grace and restraint.

However, the movie's greatest momentum comes from its performances and the high-powered cast.

Robert Duvall, whose "Tender Mercies" covered similar territory, appears as Bad's bar-owning buddy. Farrell, though his role isn't large, makes us hanker for more about the Tommy-Bad relationship. Gyllenhaal is smart and sympathetic even though her heart allows her to ignore the warning signs that come with a new love with a bad track record.

A particular bonus is provided by a soundtrack of convincing original songs and inclusions of timeless compositions by songwriting greats such as Waylon Jennings and the late, great Townes Van Zandt. Credit goes to musicologist and all-around maestro T Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton.

But this white-line fever of a cinematic country song belongs to Bridges. He handles his musical chores capably and believably. He inhabits Bad's descent from the big-time to bumming booze. He's likable, wounded and noble in a hard-headed and lost-highway sort of waywardness.

He might throw up backstage during a performance but he always shows up for his gigs. He better show up on Oscar night.