There's a road-weary troubadour for each generation. But who among the current crop of young, raspy-voiced roots singers — Deer Tick, William Elliott Whitmore and Ryan Bingham, to name three — will earn the title? Ryan Bingham certainly has the history to back up his croon. The singer and songwriter was raised in West Texas and worked as a ranch hand and a professional bull rider before turning to music in his early 20s. His sepia-toned, dust-and-steel sound earned him an Academy Award for the hauntingly beautiful theme to Crazy Heart, "The Weary Kind." Bingham released his debut on a tiny Texas label in 2006 and followed up in 2007 with Mescalito on Lost Highway (a label that's home to another talented Ryan — Ryan Adams). Bingham's latest, Junky Star, arrived this summer. Is he the next great Texas singer-songwriter? Handicap his odds Tuesday at The Granada.
