The first time is definitely the most nerve-wracked when it comes to anything in life, and Luke Grimes experienced that firsthand with his music career not long ago. The Yellowstone star turned country artist released his self-titled debut country album 2024, and has played shows and festivals here and there over the last couple years too.
The album was solid, and it was produced by legendary producer Dave Cobb too (who has produced for artists like Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton), though Grimes is no stranger to the music world as he was previously part of an alt-country band called Mitchell’s Folly, which actually released an album in 2008. In interviews from the time put out Luke Grimes, he mentioned icons like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson as musical inspirations, so he clearly has great taste in terms of the music he listens to.
And during an appearance on the The Joe Rogan Experience podcast last week, he talked about his entry into the music industry in terms of being a solo artist following the success of Yellowstone, which of course has included concerts and performing live for fans. It’s not like he’s never done it before, but certainly not at this level with so much acclaim and recognition as an actor, which only adds to the nerves when there are automatic expectations he should at least be decent… it’s not like Grimes is a no-name artist just starting out and no one will know who he is either way if he blows it.
So as you can probably imagine, when Grimes played his first show in Billings, Montana for 1,200 people in 2023, not 12 people like most artists who are just starting out, he was incredibly nervous. He told Rogan he “blacked out on nerves.” I think that’s completely understandable, and I don’t blame him at all…
The fourth show he played was Stagecoach, and even though it was a smaller stage during the daytime, Stagecoach is a massive festival and it takes most artists years to even be included as a small part of the lineup:
“First show was in Billings, Montana for 1,200 people, this place called Pub Station. Dude… I blacked out. Like, not drinking, I just blacked out on nerves, dude. It started, my knees were shaking, my hands were shaking, this is before I knew about beta blockers or anything like that.
And the show was over, and I was like, ‘Was that okay? How did that go?’ Everything’s good, everything was fine. The fourth show I ever played was Stagecoach, it was crazy. It was earlier in the day, it wasn’t like I had thousands of people out there, but still. That’s a big stage.
Little by little, it got somewhat better. I don’t black out anymore. I know where I’m at, and I’m there, but it’s still something I deal with.”
Everything Grimes has released on his debut album, as well as his forthcoming sophomore album Redbird (set for release on April 3rd), has been really solid. He’s worked with some great writers and the great Dave Cobb is producing the next project too so that certainly helps in terms of making the leap pretty seamlessly from acting to being a musician.
But I think being an actor certainly worked in his favor in terms of the whole faking it until you make it… Grimes got his feet wet for those first couple of shows, but due to his celebrity status, got a much bigger audience than he was ready for. It looked pretty easy for him from an outsiders perspective, but it sounds like that hasn’t necessarily been the case:
The full podcast is available below.
“Love You Now”
“Drink Drink Drink”
Redbird Tracklisting
1. High Rise Jeans (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
2. Come Home (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
3. Love You Now (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
4. Hummingbird (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
5. Drink Drink Drink (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
6. Love Me That Way (Luke Grimes, Nick Walsh, Wolf Mahler)
7. I’m Not Gonna Leave You (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
8. Without You (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
9. Haunted (Luke Grimes, Dave Cobb, Jessie Jo Dillon)
10. A Little More Time (Luke Grimes, Natalie Hemby)
