Simply brilliant.
In May, Ryan Bingham released a new album, They Call Us The Lucky Ones, which was his first full-length, studio record in seven years. If you’ve heard Bingham’s name and maybe haven’t gotten into his music yet, he he played Walker on the hit series Yellowstone, but he was a staple in the Texas music world long before that.
Along with his band, established Dallas/Fort Worth-area act with killer original music, The Texas Gentlemen, who are an eclectic five-piece outfit of accomplished musicians that started playing together as far back as 2014, Bingham put out an incredible album that was well worth the wait.
Bingham met the band during a one-off show at Billy Bob’s while he was filming Yellowstone, and the rest, as they say, is history:
“When I was working on the Yellowstone show, I couldn’t really put out music or tour very much. I was under contract with them, and had to be on call and working in Montana. I had a one-off show booked at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, and it was sold out. I didn’t have a band at the time because all the guys that I was normally playing with were working with other bands and on the road.
My friend Charlie Sexton told me to call these guys The Texas Gentlemen… So I literally called them up and said, ‘Hey, I got a show in a couple of weeks, and I really need a band. And a good one.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, just send us the songs and the set list, and we’ll learn everything. We’ll meet you there.’ And they did. They showed up. We had hardly rehearsed at all, and played a sold out show at Billy Bob’s, and just had an absolute blast.”
The Texas Gentlemen have backed Bingham at most every show since, and they’re just as important a part of this album as Bingham himself. In fact, if it weren’t for the band, this album might not even exist and he’d be spending all his time at home with his family this summer instead of in a tour bus:
“If it weren’t for The Texas Gentlemen, I probably wouldn’t have put a record out, and I probably wouldn’t be going on tour. I’m pretty happy at home these days, enjoying my wife and my animals and kids and enjoying being home, but this has been a whole lot of fun.”
Like every other album he’s ever put out, Bingham pulled from his own personal experiences for this record, and that’s a lot of what makes his music so special:
“My songs are always something that I’ve experienced or been through. I find it quite difficult to write about stuff that I haven’t really experienced in one way or the other.”
He and his band are incredible live performers too, and today, he put out an epic live performance video of “Cocaine Charlie,” which was filmed on June 5th at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, and it marks the first installment in their new “Live From The Capitol Theatre” series.
It opens with a nostalgic performance of “La Malagueña,” the first song Bingham learned on guitar as a teenager from a mariachi-playing neighbor, and eventually transitions into Cocaine Charlie,” a song that was directly inspired by his experiences growing up along the Texas-Mexico border. He pulls from years of stories from West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, as he tells the tale of “love, betrayal and survival along the border.”
In fact, the song has been submitted for Grammy consideration in the Best American Roots Song category, as well as the album for Best Americana Album, and “The Lucky Ones” was submitted for Best Americana Performance and “Let The Big Dog Eat” was submitted for the Best American Roots Performance category.
Bingham is just an incredible live performer, his band is top-notch and the ten-minute video is nothing short of perfection.
They Call Us The Lucky Ones Tracklist
1. The Lucky Ones
2. Let The Big Dog Eat
3. I Got A Feelin’
4. Twist The Knife
5. Americana
6. Cocaine Charlie
7. Blue Skies
8. Relevance
9. Ballad of The Texas Gentlemen
10. I’m A Goin’ Nowhere
Ryan Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen Tour Dates
October 16—Grand Rapids, MI—GLC Live at 20 Monroe
October 17—Nashville, IN—Brown County Music Center
October 18—Nashville, TN—The Ryman Auditorium
October 20—Chicago, IL—The Riviera Theatre
October 21—Milwaukee, WI—The Rave / Eagles Club
October 23—St. Paul, MN—Palace Theatre
October 24—Des Moines, IA—Val Air Ballroom
October 25—Omaha, NE—Steelhouse
October 27—Wichita, KS—The Cotillion
October 28—Kansas City, MO—Uptown Theater
October 30—St. Louis, MO—The Pageant
November 1—Oklahoma City, OK—The Criterion
November 3—Albuquerque, NM—Revel Entertainment
November 4—El Paso, TX—Abraham Chavez Theatre
November 6—Waco, TX—The Backyard, Waco
November 7—San Antonio, TX—Tobin Center – H.E.B Performance Hall
November 8—Corpus Christi, TX—Concrete Street Amphitheater
November 14—Ft. Worth, TX—Billy Bob’s
July 16—Las Vegas, NV—Allegiant Stadium*
July 20—Los Angeles, CA—SoFi Stadium*
July 24—Seattle, WA—Lumen Field*
July 28—Vancouver, BC—BC Place*
August 1—Edmonton, AB—Commonwealth Stadium*
August 6—Boise, ID—Albertsons Stadium*
*with Zach Bryan
