He’s a slender guy, not very tall, with a trim
moustache/beard. To look at Ryan Bingham, you’d hardly expect vocals like his
to come out of that slight build. He sounds like he has gravel in his throat and that makes his voice unique and unforgettable. What kind of music? Some say
country. But not like country out of Nashville. Add a little folk, a little
rock, a little blues and you’ve nailed it.
He and his original band The Dead Horses (Elijah
Ford on bass, Corby Schaub on guitar and Matthew Smith on drums) were
still selling self-produced albums (and tees) when I saw them at a local
Nashville club, 3rd & Lindsley, the singer/songwriter on stage with his
guitar, his face buried in a big black hat. Fast forward from back then to
2010, the release date of their third album titled Junky Star on Lost Highway Records. That’s not
counting the Crazy Heart soundtrack
featuring The Weary Kind, the theme
song that won Bingham and his co-writer T Bone Burnett a Grammy as well as an
Academy Award for Best Original Song. Bingham also had a little on camera time
in the movie that gave a well-deserved Oscar to star Jeff Bridges.
Would you believe he also spent his teenage years on the
rodeo circuit as a bull rider? Born in 1981 in New Mexico, Bingham didn’t even
start playing the guitar until he was around 17. Quoting him from a biography
on GAC: “We lived in so many different towns (rural Texas) and
even when we stayed in one town, we'd move to different houses. Something would
happen, the bills wouldn't get paid and we'd get evicted. After a while, I'd
get to where I wouldn't even unpack my stuff.” His mother eventually died of alcoholism
and his father commited suicide.
He first played in public at the
urging of friends. That led to a regular gig and ultimately to his “overnight”
rise to fame. In addition to vocals, Bingham plays acoustic, electric and slide
guitars along with harmonica. And he writes.
In 2015, he released his fifth
album, “Fear and Saturday Night” on Axter Bingham Records. According to an article in Rolling Stone, he
wrote most of the songs in a trailer with no power or phone service. This album,
produced by Jim Scott, also features a new band.
With success came the first home
of his own in California, but his road days are obviously far from over. He
returns to Nashville on his 2015 U.S. tour but this time, to the Ascend
Amphitheater. Then he’s off to Europe in the fall. Funny
aside. The name of George Clooney’s character in the movie Up in the Air also happened to be Ryan Bingham.
