Ryan Bingham’s latest project is finally here.
Watch Out for the Wolf features seven tracks – six songs and an instrumental intermission – and marks the first project since his 2019 record American Love Song. Call it an EP or an album, whatever it is, Watch Out for the Wolf is loaded with Bingham’s authentic lyricism and raspy vocals that have won over countless fans over the years, pushing the envelope a bit sonically, yet remaining completely rooted in his classic sound.
Bingham took his fans by surprise when he released the project’s debut single “Where My Wild Things Are” back in May with no prior announcements or fanfare, but the rocking single reminiscent of songs like “Top Shelf Drug” set the tone for the album and began to garner quite a bit of suspense surrounding the project’s release.
To follow that up, Bingham dropped the second single “River of Love” a couple of months later, and this one seems to be a fresh take on the Mescalito sound that Bingham has built his storied songwriting career upon.
Of course, perhaps the reason that this project came out of nowhere was because it wasn’t planned to begin with, but rather happened as Bingham ventured off into the Montana wilderness with some basic camping supplies, a few mics, a “really f*cking old” Gibson acoustic guitar, and as Ryan himself put it, “a few grams of mushrooms and 40 years of locked up emotions and a bursting heart.”
He calls the project a snapshot of a moment:
“This collection of songs is a snapshot of a moment; a photograph capturing a time spent in the mountains of the Montana wilderness.
While making this album, I went through a definite personal evolution or spiritual transformation that I can’t really explain.
I know about free will, but this thing was completely out of my control. I just felt like a conduit most of the time. Creating this album in solitude was otherworldly, spiritual, and sometimes just downright f*cking terrifying.
I recorded this album in a cabin in Montana… as my friend Terry Allen says ‘sometimes ya gotta go north, to get south.’”
Now, with the highly anticipated Watch Out for the Wolf officially at our fingertips, I think it is safe to say that Ryan Bingham continues to reign as one of the greatest independent country music artists of the past couple decades, and his latest work even surpasses the lofty expectations his popular status has earned him.
So with that being said, go ahead and give Watch Out for the Wolf a listen. See for yourself, Ryan Bingham never misses.
“Where My Wild Things Are”
“Automated”
“Shivers”
“Internal Intermission”
“River of Love”
“The Devil Stole My Style”
“This Life”
Bingham, who many also know as Walker from Paramount’s hit series Yellowstone, has grown quite a bit in popularity along with Yellowstone’s meteoric rise since that American Love Song record, but if Watch Out for the Wolf proves anything, it’s that Bingham hasn’t gotten too big for his breeches or lost his creative edge.
In fact, his artistry is still evolving, and I’m more than excited to see what Bingham has up his sleeve moving forward.
