Ryan Bingham performs onstage during a 52nd season taping of the long-running music series "Austin City Limits" at ACL Live at the Moody Theater on April 21, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)
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This week, singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham releases his first studio full-length in seven years — and yes, it was worth the wait.
Bingham returns Friday with They Call Us The Lucky Ones, a 10-song collection cut alongside trusted country-roots band the Texas Gentlemen. On the album, listeners can expect a handful of must-hear stories sketched into Bingham’s growing songbook of cinematic tales. From vivid opening number “The Lucky Ones” through reflective closer “I’m A Goin’ Nowhere,” he collects stories for the restless, rowdy and romantic — each backed by riffs spun from the seasoned pickers of the Texas Gentlemen.
For Bingham — a Grammy and Oscar-winning artist who, in addition to songwriting, may be recognized for his recurring role as Walker on hit program Yellowstone — returning to the studio comes in-part after connecting with Texas Gentlemen, a studio and road band that’s played with Kris Kristofferson, as well as Leon Bridges, Ed Sheeran, Shakey Graves and others. Bingham and the Gentle connected for a run of shows (including the singer’s 2024 Live at Red Rocks release) that eventually led to time in the studio.
“Even when we’re not playing shows, we enjoy hanging out together and just playing music on the back porch at the house,” Bingham told Forbes about returning to the studio with the band. “A lot of stuff we were just making up and I had a bunch of songs I was working on. We wanted to go out and play some shows, so it felt like it was time to go into the studio and make some stuff we could have some fun and play.”
The band cut the album in Fort Worth, Texas, with Bingham on production duties. They recorded live, on the studio floor — “a bunch of friends trying to catch a vibe," Bingham said. Listeners hear the result on songs like the swampy rocker “Let The Big Dog Eat" and road-dogging Americana tune “Ballad of the Texas Gentlemen.”
Bingham and company chased songs without studio time limits or deadlines looming. As a result, the band kept the process “really light and cool,” Bingham said.
“It was just like, ‘let’s start going into the studio and hanging out and whenever we have enough songs for a record, we’ll put it out. Even if it takes a year,’” Bingham said. He added, “In a lot of ways, we’re kind-of a jam band. … Even when we’re playing them live, these songs and the stuff that we do always takes on a life of its own. We didn’t want to have any restrictions on that.”
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Ryan Bingham performs during the Two Step Inn Music Festival at San Gabriel Park on April 06, 2025 in Georgetown, Texas.
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The album includes songs like “Twist The Knife,” where Bingham captures grizzled restlessness with a few strums on guitar and the howl of a harmonica, and “Americana,” an upbeat tune about being down on your luck. He captures tenderhearted love on “Blue Skies” and delivers a rowdy sermon on the foot-stomping “Relevance.”
Still, no song may stand out quite like “Cocaine Charlie,” a six-and-a-half minute western ballad that spins a rich story of betrayal in a world of drug trafficking inspired by a “mixed bag” of characters Bingham remembered from a time when he lived in Laredo, Texas, a small city that borders Mexico.
As for where the songs come from? Bingham isn’t sure, he said with a laugh.
“I start playing the guitar and I start writing s*** down,” he said, laughing. He added, “Like, you have a conversation with a friend or family member and they’re like, ‘Why’d you say that?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t really know. It’s just kinda what I was thinking.’”
This summer, Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen return to the road for the “Still Gettin’ Away With It” tour, where fans can expect to hear old favorites, plus cuts from They Call Us The Lucky Ones and other freewheelin’ songs that may get discovered along the way.
“All the shows we’ve played have just been a lot of fun,” Bingham said of his time on the road with Texas Gentlemen. “The energy between all of us was very infectious with the crowds and the people we’re playing for. It’s something that felt really organic.”
Find more information on the tour at ryanbingham.com.
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