If you’ve been tuning in to Yellowstone since Season 1, then you definitely know the troublemaker cowboy Walker played by actor/musician Ryan Bingham. It was a recurring role for the first three seasons, but he immediately earned a spot as one of the fan-favorite characters and became a mainstay for the fourth and fifth seasons. We all have a weak spot for a handsome badass who is trying to change their lives and is also a singer and a guitarist.
But who is Ryan Bingham, and how exactly did he get into Yellowstone?
Trading the Boots for a Guitar
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George Ryan Bingham was born in Hobbs, New Mexico, on March 31, 1981, and was raised in a struggling family. His dad chased down oil-worker jobs around the Southwest and in the bordering towns of Texas, so they relocated to West Texas before settling into Houston, where he attended Westfield High School.
When he was 16, his mom purchased a guitar for him. He was fascinated by music, but the guitar collected dust in his closet for a year before he actually took it out and played it. The first song he learned was the classic Mariachi song “La Malaguena” from a neighbor of his father’s in Laredo during one of their beer-drinking sessions. He hitchhiked his way there after his parents split.
At 17, he relocated to Stephenville, Texas, joined the rodeo team at Tarleton University, and hung on a few bulls. He found his family in the rodeo circuit and enjoyed a life of risky adventures. In an interview with Christian Hoard for Rolling Stone, Bingham shared how he got his two front teeth knocked out by ‘a particularly volatile beast and drunkenly rode a horse down a Main Street wearing nothing but cowboy boots.’ And how they were on the road or in another town every weekend and how he would get into crazy bar fights.
And along the ride, he would play the guitar and sing for his rodeo mates and sometimes for a few bucks – 50 to hundred a night. They loved it, and add to the multiple injuries – broken teeth, hands, legs, and ribs – from playing around horses and bulls and working odd jobs, he decided to take his shot at music full-time.
In the first few years, Bingham was practically homeless. He lived in dive-bar establishments, played local gigs, and even tried busking in parks for tips. It was also during this time that he met drummer Matthew “Papa” Smith. Together, they founded Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, which include Corby Schaub on guitar and mandolin and Black Crowes’ Marc Ford’s son Elijah on bass.
Then luck finally knocked on his door when he scored a deal with Lost Highway, an alt-country label in Nashville. He released his first major label debut ‘Mescalito’ in 2007 with his hit song “Southside of Heaven” and followed up with his sophomore record ‘Roadhouse Sun’ in 2009.
Both albums were well-received but still left him far from being the popular name that he is now until “The Weary Kind.” The song was part of the 2009 romance drama film “Crazy Heart” soundtrack directed by Scott Cooper and starred by Jeff Bridges. Bingham co-wrote it with T Bone Burnett and was inspired by the script and the hundreds of no-named bars he played in (where he met a lot of Bad Blakes, the film’s main character). The track earned a string of awards, including an Oscar, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy Award. The opportunity also acknowledged Bingham’s acting, who had a small role in the film.
The Successes and Heartbreaks
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But life didn’t get any easier after the fame. He lost both his parents – his mom to alcoholism and his dad to suicide. And he got through it with the only way he knew: music. In 2010, he released his third studio album ‘Junky Star.’
He left Lost Highway Records in 2012 and released his fourth album ‘Tomorrowland’ under his own label, Axster Bingham Records. He and Anna Axster married in 2009, purchased their first home in Topanga Canyon in 2013, welcomed their first child in 2015, and had two more. After that record debut, he launched a few more: ‘Fear and Saturday Night’ in 2015, ‘Live’ in 2018, and ‘American Love Song’ in 2019.
Then came another painful gut-puncher. After 12 years of marriage, he and his wife called it quits. Their home was sold for $2.45 million.
Going Back to His Cowboy Roots
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Throughout the heartbreak, Ryan Bingham had his Yellowstone family.
Bingham first crossed paths with Taylor Sheridan back when the screenwriter-director was in the middle of “Wind River.” Sheridan enlisted him to write a song for the film, but it didn’t work out. Nevertheless, they kept in touch and remained friends.
Two years later, Sheridan reached out again. This time, he asked Bingham to write songs for his neo-Western series Yellowstone led by Kevin Costner. But that wasn’t the only Bingham’s credit on the show. After Sheridan discovered his cowboy past – his family ranching out in New Mexico and riding horses and bulls – he decided to write him a part. Recalling the conversation, Bingham said, “He said ‘I’ll just write something small’ [and said] ‘If you do good, I’ll keep you in there, and if you suck, we’ll just kill you off. I’m still in there so far. We’ll see how it goes.”
Bingham portrays the role of Walker, the felon who was given a second chance in life by John Dutton (Kevin Costner) as a ranch hand. He is often seen holding a guitar and singing in the bunkhouse – pretty much who he is in real life. He is also an occasional troublemaker with a few romantic run-ins with Beth, John’s daughter and Rip Wheeler’s lover. Well, he did have a chaotic, crazy life before Yellowstone. So there’s that.
Ryan Bingham’s character has been received warmly by fans and has since become a fan favorite. And for his first major TV role, this was huge. So it’s exciting to see what Sheridan has in store for Walker now that Yellowstone is nearing its end. But for now, we wait.