Ryan Bingham

Ryan Bingham is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor from Hobbs, New Mexico. He is associated with americana and roots rock, and his work also spans country, alt-country and folk rock. He grows up across the Southwestern United States and later bases himself in Los Angeles.

Early life and music career

Bingham joins the rodeo circuit as a bull rider in his teens. He learns guitar on an instrument given to him by his mother at 16 and first plays for friends after rodeos. He then begins performing in small bars and honky tonks across the West, which leads him to Los Angeles.

In 2007 he signs his first record deal with Lost Highway Records. He releases his first two studio albums on the label, Mescalito in 2007 and Roadhouse Sun in 2009. He later releases four albums on his own label, Axster Bingham Records, and by 2019 has six studio albums and one live album to his name.

Songwriting, film work and awards

Bingham collaborates with producer T Bone Burnett on the soundtrack for the 2009 film Crazy Heart. He co-writes and performs the film's theme song, "The Weary Kind", which wins the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and Critics' Choice Award for Best Song in 2010, and a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The Americana Music Association names him Artist of the Year in 2010.

His song "Wolves" from American Love Song is inspired in part by March For Our Lives students and is also used in the television series Yellowstone. He performs the song in the series as his character Walker.

Albums, label and festival work

American Love Song is released in 2019 and becomes his most recent album in the available record. Earlier songs from Tomorrowland and Fear and Saturday Night include "Never Far Behind", which is about his parents, and "Broken Heart Tattoo", which reflects on what he would say to his unborn child.

In April 2019 he partners with Live Nation to launch the festival The Western, with the first edition taking place over two days in Luckenbach, Texas.

Other projects and personal life

Bingham appears as a cast member on Yellowstone and is also linked with the acts Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses and Life Is a Carnival. He has three children with Anna Axster. The couple divorce after 12 years of marriage in 2021, and they previously own a home in Topanga Canyon. In 2023 he is in a relationship with his Yellowstone co-star Hassie Harrison, and they marry at her family estate in Dallas, Texas.