Artist Spotlight - Ryan Bingham

I asked two people but haven't heard back, so I found this old interview & photo that were never published...

Ryan Bingham’s They Call Us the Lucky Ones rocks (“The Lucky Ones”) and rolls (“Let the Big Dog Eat”) with welterweight fury. We recently unearthed a previously unpublished interview with the Yellowstone actor about his most significant influences.

“My uncle had all the Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, but I think my mom was the first to turn me on to Guy’s records when I was ten,” Bingham says. “I knew these songs weren’t what you hear on the radio. Townes’ ‘Rex’s Blues’ is always a favorite.” 

Alt.Country Specialty Chart: Explain what draws you to Guy Clark in particular.

Ryan Bingham: Guy’s really true, honest voice. My uncle was a big influence on me. We’d spend a lot of time just sitting in the garage drinking beer and listening to these songs. I guess Townes and Guy and Joe Ely and Terry Allen wrote songs that I related to being from West Texas.

Describe the draw toward those songs.

Their songs were about real life, real emotions and feelings. You didn’t just listen to them – you could feel those songs in your heart and your soul. Their songs aren’t necessarily always about anything in particular. They’re a lot of things woven together and leave it up to whoever’s listening to relate to the song in their own way. Their songs bring out stuff that’s not so easy to talk about all the time.

Explain what songs mean the most to you as a songwriter.

As a songwriter, the ones that mean the most to you always seem to be the ones you get with the butterfly net. It never seems to work out for me when I sit down with a pen and piece of paper and try to pound out a song. It seems to have to be more random than that. Townes Van Zandt, Lightning Hopkins, Guy Clark, Joe Ely – all those Texas troubadour guys were a big part of Crazy Heart.

Do you follow the philosophy that you should write what you know?

When I started playing I wasn’t in any band, so I guess the main thing was just writing about your experiences – what you lived through and what you’re surrounded by and trying to be honest and real. Guy was definitely held in a high regard (among young songwriters in Texas). There isn’t anybody around Texas who doesn’t know who Guy Clark is. “Let Him Roll” is a favorite of mine and my uncle.His songs stand the test of time. They’ll be around for hundreds of years.

– Brian T. Atkinson