To say Ryan Bingham “wears a lot of hats” might be the understatement that defines all other understatements: Oscar winner, Grammy winner, touring musician, husband, father, bull rider and more.

The irony is that all of his hats take the unmistakable shape of a crafted, genuine cowboy hat.

Whatever he is doing, it is approached with cowboy know-how, ingenuity, grit and the indomitable spirit that real cowboys possess. In his first studio album in seven years titled They Call Us The Lucky Ones, Bingham captures “cowboy country” with stylistic music and finessed storytelling and the album is already highly acclaimed after being released in May 2026.

They Call Us the Lucky Ones - Ryan Bingham — They Call Us the Lucky Ones – Ryan Bingham

The pairing with The Texas Gentlemen for this effort could not be more harmonious and balanced. Recorded largely live with minimal studio enhancements, the album embraces spontaneity and camaraderie in a way that feels increasingly rare in modern Americana. They become a band that doesn’t just love the music, but each other’s integral part. This is a troupe of accomplished musicians and brothers in love with the idea of being in love with the music. Each member is an important cog that turns the wheels that make this album undeniable.

Bingham’s story has always been intertwined with his music. Before becoming an Oscar-winning songwriter for “The Weary Kind” featured in the acclaimed movie Crazy Heart or playing the integral role as Walker on the hit TV show Yellowstone, he was a competitive bull rider navigating the rough edges of the American west. That experience continues to shape his songwriting, but on this album the scar tissue is accompanied by something new: Perspective. The songs aren’t obsessed with survival as much as they are grateful for having survived.

The title itself captures the album’s central theme. The songs don’t extol the virtues of having good fortune, but rather an understanding of how much sacrifice, heartache and road miles were required to arrive at this moment. Bingham has described the title as a reflection on the difficult years shared by the band and the appreciation that comes from making it through them together.

As I obsessed over the album in the weeks leading up to Bingham’s show in Philadelphia, I found myself equating each song to the roads we travel each day. Whether you’re looking for a city street, freeway or back country road, the album has it all.

The title track “The Lucky Ones” serves as the onramp that any good album needs. There’s a cadence and pace to the acoustic guitar that props us up, gets us wondering and anticipating. It’s not dissimilar to walking into a party where you know all your friends will be. It’s a perfect juxtaposition of comfort and titillation.

Once “The Lucky Ones” gets us up to speed and we’ve safely merged onto the four-lane highway that is “Let The Big Dog Eat,” things get more than rolling. This song is a testament to the honky-tonk art of delicately pounding the ever-loving hell out of a piano that defies you to not stomp.

The beautifully-tragic ballad “Cocaine Charlie” is the pinnacle of storytelling on the album, telling a story fraught with border river crossings, drug running, love and betrayal. Bingham’s delicately gruff voice dances solo with only an acoustic guitar until all at once, violins and dramatic bass rise up and drive home the story of the character. Acclaimed fiddle master Richard Bowden plays a solo that will raise the hair on your arm and the lump in your throat.

In the end, They Call Us The Lucky Ones succeeds because it doesn’t try to reinvent Ryan Bingham from other notable albums like Junky Star and American Love Song.

Instead, it captures him at a moment when every road of his life – the cowboy, the songwriter, the actor, the road warrior, and the family man – has finally intersected. The result is one of the warmest, most confident, and yet most vulnerable records of his career.

Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen are crisscrossing North America on the “Still Gettin’ Away With It Tour,” bringing these songs directly to audiences in clubs, theaters, and festivals.

— —