C&I Exclusive Convo With Ryan Bingham

Joe Leydon, Cowboys & Indians: Congratulations on your new album, They Call Us the Lucky Ones, which came out May 15, and also on your Austin City Limits appearance with The Texas Gentlemen. Oh, and your recent short film, Love Letter to Texas.

Ryan Bingham: Thanks.

Leydon, C&I: The short film, which was directed by Jeff Nichols and produced by Tecovas creative director Scott Ballew, pays visually eloquent tribute to the cinematic heritage of the Lone Star State. In it, you get to do homage bits to some greats, including James Dean (Giant), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies), and Harry Dean Stanton (Paris, Texas). How did you react when you looked at the script and saw you were going to be playing Robert Duvall?

Bingham: I was excited. I mean, it wasn’t just the Robert Duvall part, but I mean, a tribute to all the films that were referenced in it. There wasn’t really a conversation between me and Scott or Jeff. We weren’t trying to be that character. We were just trying to pay tribute to those. And they were very much like, “Be yourself, and let’s have some fun with this stuff.” But I’m a huge fan of Robert Duvall and all the movies that he’s been in. So I was pretty proud, and it felt really special to pay that tribute.

Leydon, C&I:Tender Mercies is my favorite Robert Duvall movie, even more than the Lonesome Dove or the Godfather films. I just love the way you guys carry that off — it was really impressive and quite touching.

Bingham: Oh, well, thank you. Yeah, it was really special. I was really touched by it as well when I watched it back. And what a great group of people to go out there and work on a project with. It was four or five days out in Marfa, Texas. I kind of grew up in that area, so a lot of it hit pretty close to home for me. It was great being out there.

Leydon, C&I:Of course, Marfa is where they shot the national film of Texas, as we all know, Giant. So you got a little bit of that film in Love Letter to Texas as well.

Bingham: Yeah, we sure did. Yeah. Yes, sir.

Leydon, C&I: The new album with The Texas Gentlemen — why “the lucky ones”? Do you consider yourself a lucky one?

Bingham: Oh, heck yeah, I do. I’m very much so considered to be very, very lucky. I mean, there’s a bit of irony in there as well, but I think for us and the guys in the Texas Gentlemen, the group of us together, from what we’ve all been through in our lives and to get to what we’re doing these days, I think we all feel pretty lucky.

Leydon, C&I: Now, your fellow compatriots among the Texas Gentlemen … they’ve been described as a “band of ringers.” What’s the best thing about making music and being on stage with these particular gentlemen?

Bingham: I feel like we’re all cut from the same cloth, so to speak. We all grew up listening to the same kinds of music, and we all kind of have a very similar playing style in one way or the other. We don’t really have to talk about it. We don’t have to think about it. We can just get up there and start playing together. We’re all speaking the same language, and none of us know what it is. It just makes it easy. They’re an easy bunch to be around.

Leydon, C&I: When you told some folks that you were performing ‘Blue Skies’ on this album, did any of them think, But wait a minute, didn’t Willie Nelson already record that? I mean, no, no, no, not that ‘Blue Skies.’ This is another ‘Blue Skies,’ not the Irving Berlin song.

Bingham: No, not really. A lot of the songs were just coming on the fly anyway, so we were all down to record whatever and anything. We were just having fun in the studio.

Leydon, C&I: If you on your own or you with The Texas Gentleman ever decided to cut an album of covers, what are two or three of your favorite songs you would like to perform on an album like that?

Bingham: I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot lately. I’ve been very blessed to be around some of my heroes over the years, and some of them were my favorite Texas guys like Joe Ely and Terry Allen and Guy Clark. Joe recently passed away, and Guy Clark’s no longer with us. I’ve always thought about doing a whole album of all their songs, multiple of them.

Leydon, C&I: Were you at all — I don’t know that nervous is the applicable word here — but for the Austin City Limits live cast, it’s like, “Oh wait, so this is going to go out live. We can’t stop the taping and if I forget a lyric or something …”

Bingham: I was. I was nervous about that show. Last time I did that show was almost 20 years ago, and Austin really means a lot to me. It was such an important milestone in my life as a young man and getting into music. And I really feel like I owe a lot to that town and for the support they’ve given me over the years. So I definitely was a bit nervous and wanted to do my best for them.

Leydon, C&I: Have you got a chance to watch it taped yet?

Bingham: I briefly did, yeah. The live stream was still kind of playing that night after we played. So we got to watch it that night after we played the show. That was pretty surreal because we don’t usually get an opportunity to see something like that, especially right after we’ve just played. It was really cool to see back.

Leydon, C&I: You know what they say, that chance favors a prepared mind, but could anything have prepared you for winning a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Golden Globe within just three years after signing your first record deal?

Bingham: No, nothing. Nothing. I’d been down quite a few miles in those days, but I had no idea what I was doing or what I was getting thrown into. That was a baptism by fire.

Leydon, C&I: About getting the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Golden Globe close together: Were there ever nights when you’d wake up and go, “Okay, this is happening pretty doggone fast. I don’t think I can keep this up.”

Bingham: Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. And even years ago in 2008 or whenever it was, when I signed my first record deal with Lost Highway, they really poured the gas onto it. And it wasn’t in a crazy way like all of a sudden we’re playing arenas and all this stuff, but I mean, we were just on the road all the time constantly. And there’s pressure to just keep writing songs, and you got to put another album out next month. Songwriting for me is not something I’ve ever had to rush before. I would write songs as they would come to me. Then all of a sudden I had folks telling me I had a deadline to write songs, and that just wasn’t very natural for me. But I’ve learned to tell people no over the years and just start taking my time with it.

Leydon, C&I: How did you get — I don't want to say roped into — but how did you get involved at first in Yellowstone?

Bingham: I met Taylor [Sheridan] a few years before Yellowstone. When he did his first movie, Wind River, we got in touch about writing some songs for that film, and we became friends then and had kept in touch over the years. And when the Yellowstone stuff came up, he got back in touch about writing some more songs.

Leydon, C&I: Imagine you might have good memories of playing a Walker in Yellowstone. What did you like the most?

Bingham: I just never knew what was going to come next, especially with that character. When I met Taylor and we talked about actually building a rollout for me on the show, he literally told me, “If you do good, we’ll keep you on. And if you suck, I’ll just kill you off.” So I never knew if I was going to the train station or if I was going to be in the next one. That was kind of fun though. I just kind of didn’t worry about it. I would just wait for the scripts to come in or wait to get [to the part and be like], “Nope, you’re back in there. Let’s go.” I always got a kick out of that.

Leydon, C&I: What did you think when you read the script that, wait a minute, Lloyd's going to smash my guitar. I’m not too sure I like that.

Bingham: Yeah, just part of the drama.

Leydon, C&I: Were you afraid that you were getting written out of the show? I mean, you guys had a dust up afterward. Did you think as you were flipping the pages, Okay, he’s not going to fatally punch me out here.

Bingham: You never know. Never know.

Leydon, C&I: Are you recognized much in public for Yellowstone?

Bingham: Not really, to be honest with you. If I’m wearing a cowboy hat, I do. But for the most part, I seem to be able to move around pretty freely. Not too many people mess with me, or if they do, they don’t say anything.

Leydon, C&I: What is more intimidating? Riding a bull named, say maybe Bone Crusher, or telling Taylor Sheridan, “No, I don’t really want to do the scene that way.”

Bingham: Probably riding a bull called Bone Crusher.

Leydon, C&I: Is there any connection between bull riding and songwriting?

Bingham: Yeah, I believe it’s the dance — riding bulls and probably songwriting and music and the energy and the flow of things. It’s not about strength. It’s about your mental capacity and trying to be one with Mother Nature, so to speak, if that makes any sense. And it's all very reaction-based and going with being in the moment and being present. I think there's a lot of similarities there actually.

Leydon, C&I: Is there anything you miss about riding bulls, or do you still ride bulls from time to time?

Bingham: No, I don’t. I still ride horses and I still rope and I love to go to rodeos and rope. But I haven’t been on a bull in a long time, and I do miss it. It was something that was all I ever wanted to be, was a bull rider when I was young, when I was a kid. My uncle rode bulls, and my family ranched. I grew up around it, and it was just in my blood. I miss the smell of the dirt and the air and the camaraderie and the friends and going down the road and traveling to the rodeos. I loved every bit of it.

Leydon, C&I: What is the best time of day to sample Bingham’s Bourbon?

Bingham: Anytime. I mean, I would recommend after the sun goes down, but maybe it depends on what day of the week it is, too.

Leydon, C&I: Or what kind of day you’re having.

Bingham: And how much you got going on and what’s on your schedule.

Leydon, C&I: Do you have somebody picking out your clothes for you for your personal appearances, or do you just say, “No, no, I'm just going to go into the closet and get some stuff out.”

Bingham: Oh, my wife, Hassie, dresses me up all the time. She’s always getting me some shirts and pants, stuff like that. I’ve got a handful of things that I just kind of go to every time, but I always ask her for her advice.

Leydon, C&I: If you don’t mind saying, and I’m not asking for the specific address, but where do you and Hassie live now? Where do you go home to?

Bingham: We're in Texas. We got a place out in East Texas, east of Dallas.

Leydon, C&I: OK, that's good enough. I don’t want to send throngs of fans in your general direction.

Bingham: I appreciate that. Tell them we live in El Paso.

Leydon, C&I: After the tour, do you and Hassie have some travel plans, or you think you might just hold up at home in East Texas for a while?

Bingham: We like to travel, so we’ve got a lot going on. She’s working on Baywatch right now, so she’s the new Baywatch lady, and so she’s pretty busy with that. And I’m going to be on the road with this record. So I’m sure we’re going to miss each other quite a bit. We’re going to have to spend some time away. And as soon as I get done with this little tour, I’m going to go pick her up and we’re going to go on some adventures for sure.

PHOTOGRAPHY (All images): Credit Scott Newton. Courtesy Austin City Limits.