Ryan Bingham

George Ryan Bingham was born on March 31, 1981, in Hobbs, New Mexico. He spent his early years moving across the Southwestern United States, including the Midland–Odessa area of West Texas and Houston. Bingham attended Westfield High School in Houston. His mother gave him his first guitar at age 16, which lay unused for some time. A year later, while trying to find work with his father in Laredo, Texas, Bingham began to learn the guitar more seriously, picking up a classical Mariachi song. His early exposure to ranch life informed his music, leading him to join the rodeo circuit as a bull rider in his teens. He began playing small bars and honky-tonks in places like Stephenville, Texas, where he wrote “Southside of Heaven.”

Bingham’s music career began to formalize after a chance encounter in Fort Worth. Following a period spent in Paris, France, he returned to Texas and formed Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses with Matthew “Papa” Smith on drums. Marc Ford of the Black Crowes discovered them and offered to record an album. This led to his signing with Lost Highway Records in 2007, releasing “Mescalito” and “Roadhouse Sun.” A significant turning point in his career came in 2009 when he collaborated with producer T Bone Burnett on the soundtrack for the film “Crazy Heart.” Bingham co-wrote and performed “The Weary Kind,” which earned him an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Critics’ Choice Award for “Best Song” in 2010. He also received a Grammy Award for “Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media” in 2011 and was named “Artist of the Year” by the Americana Music Association in 2010.

In 2012, Bingham established his own label, Axster Bingham Records, separating from Lost Highway Records and the Dead Horses. Under his own label, he released “Tomorrowland” (2012), “Fear and Saturday Night” (2015), and “American Love Song” (2019). His acting career expanded with a recurring role as Walker in the television series “Yellowstone” starting in 2018, where he also performed his song “Wolves” from “American Love Song.” In 2019, he partnered with Live Nation to launch his own music festival, The Western, in Luckenbach, Texas. Bingham continues to release music and perform, with his latest EP “Watch Out For The Wolf” released in 2023.