Ever since I first started watching Yellowstone, Ryan Bingham’s character Walker quickly became a favorite of mine.
You gotta respect a troubled cowboy who does what he wants, even if his decisions are costly.
Not to mention, Bingham plays some country music on the show as well, so that’s pretty badass in itself.
The country singer and Yellowstone actor sat down for an interview in 2020 with PopCulture.com, and brought up some interesting insight about how Taylor Sheridan got him to join the show.
Taylor initially got in touch with Ryan when he was working on a movie called Wind River (great movie by the way), and wanted Ryan to work on a song for the movie.
It didn’t really work out that way:
“I originally met Taylor a few years back when he wrote and directed a film called ‘Wind River.’ He contacted me about writing a song for the film. I never seemed to come up with anything for the movies at that time that fit, but we always kept in touch and remained friends.
And when this show started up, he contacted me again about possibly writing some songs and using some of the songs that I already had.
And after hanging out for a while, he learned that I had a history with rodeo and the cowboy thing. And so he said, ‘Heck, I got to write you into this show.’ And so that’s how that all started.”
Naturally, that was a bit intimidating for Ryan, so to ease the pressure, Taylor told him:
He originally brought up the hilarious time when Sheridan told him:
“If you suck, I’ll just kill you off…”
Gotta love it… is there a better way to get fired from a show? I don’t think so…
Of course, we all saw how his near death experience on the show led him to seemingly disappear from the ranch forever, but made a surprising return in season three.
He also weighed in on how much he loves working with Jefferson White, who plays Jimmy on the show:
“Some of my favorite ones have been with Jimmy, with Jefferson (White’s) character. He’s just one of my favorite guys on the show, and I feel like he’s just so innocent in a way and he just always just runs into shit.
He can’t get a break. I know my character kind of gives him a little bit of shit at the beginning, but I think Walker has a soft spot for Jimmy, and some of that’s just endearing.
I don’t know what it is, but I think it was the first episode where I rope the bear to save him from that bear and tell him he owes me a rope and all of that stuff. That’s kind of where our relationship starts, and that was probably one of my favorite scenes so far.”
It’s pretty cool how Bingham’s music is what ultimately landed him a gig in acting…
And not just acting, it landed him a role on the most popular TV in the country.
Jefferson White Walked Four Miles In The Mountains With Ryan Bingham’s “Hallelujah” On Repeat
It’s no secret that one of the best ingredients that goes into Yellowstone, is the incredible soundtrack.
Needless to say, Yellowstone music supervisor Andrea Von Foerster does a top tier job of bringing in songs that perfectly fit the scenes and emotion of the show.
From Sturgill Simpson, to Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Whiskey Myers, the list goes on and on and on.
And one singer in particular plays a top notch role in the show, and that’s Ryan Bingham.
Not only is his music displayed in the show, but he also plays Walker, who is a critical character in Yellowstone as a ranch-hand, and could also be playing a bigtime role in the new show spinoff at the 6666 Ranch.
With that being said, Jefferson White recently sat down with Bingham on the latest Yellowstone podcast, discussing Ryan’s journey through music, early days growing up around ranching, working with Taylor Sheridan and more.
He recalled one of his first memories of the filming, when he met with Taylor Sheridan to discuss the vision of the show.
“I just want to say, the very first time I met Taylor basically after I got this part, I went out to his house. I was riding around, he was teaching me how to ride and stuff like that… And then afterwards, we were talking about the show, talking about his vision for the show, this was before we started filming.
The first thing he told me about was you (Ryan Bingham), and that you were gonna be involved in the show, and he told me about your song ‘Hallelujah,’ and this is where the story gets a little silly.
I left his house, and I didn’t know how to ask him for a ride, I didn’t know how to get a ride, I was out in the middle of nowhere Park City, Utah. So I walked from Taylor’s ranch, back to the hotel. It was like a four mile walk, and I just listened to your song ‘Hallelujah’ on a loop for four miles.
I’ll never forget it, man. It was like my first week out there, learning how to cowboy, I’d never done any of this stuff. And your song, your music has been such a sorta integral part of this experience for me from the very beginning.”
I mean, that’s relatable.
Who hasn’t listened to the same song over and over and over again on repeat? I bet that made the four mile walk through the mountains just a little bit easier…
Our Yellowstone: The Soundtrack Playlist, featuring every song from every episode, updated in real time, every Sunday night.
