Luke Grimes knows what your reaction is going to be to his releasing an album because he’s already had the same one.
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Grimes has carved out an impressive acting career, most notably as a regular on the massive hit drama Yellowstone. Hence, there likely will be skepticism about his burgeoning musical career. He’s released several singles over the past year or so, and March 2024 will witness the release of his self-titled debut album. But we know that many actors have gone this route before—often with lackluster results.
Luckily, for Grimes’ sake, he seems to be a natural at this music stuff. The album Luke Grimes, produced by Dave Cobb, is filled with thoughtful songwriting and lived-in vocals. This is not a guy doing music to raise his profile or gain social media followers. He’s doing it because he loves it and wants to honor the music that influenced him. (In our humble judgment, mission accomplished and then some.)
American Songwriter had the chance to sit down with Grimes for a lengthy interview, one where he spoke about his initial reservations about turning his hobby into a product; the thrill he experienced partaking in the co-writing process; and why he’s still a little nervous about the album’s reception.
American Songwriter: What was the turning point where your music went from being a hobby to something where other people get to hear it?
Luke Grimes: My manager Matt Graham had heard some stuff that I’d been sending to friends who were in the business. He reached out and asked, “Is that something you’d really want to try?” I had a job, but I just loved music, always have. It had been a big part of my life for a long time. I’d always been in bands and stuff, but had never really thought about trying it professionally. He said, “I think because of what’s been going on with your show and the demographics of that show that we could probably get you a record deal in Nashville.” I said, “Well, that sounds goofy.” [Laughs]
We talked on the phone for two years before I even tried. Because we’ve all seen this before. Any actor that makes a record, it’s not cool, and it seems contrived, and you wonder why they’re even doing it. And then at a certain point, I was like, “Man, am I going to let my self-judgment or the fear of other people judging me get in the way of something I actually would like to do, which is to try and make a record?” After two years, I finally got the balls to try it.
AS: There are some impressive co-writers with you on this record. [Grimes had a hand in writing 10 of the album’s 13 songs.] What was that process like, considering it was new to you?
LG: I had no idea what that process was going to be like going into it. I remember the night before my first co-write, I think I was writing with Lee Miller and Rhett Akins. I looked up their track record, and I was so intimidated. I thought, “Do I have to go in with an almost-finished song? Do I go in with nothing?” I had no clue what to even expect.
One thing I saw really quickly is how beautiful the songwriting community is in Nashville and how kind and amazing those people are. The cream really rises to the top, and all those people, on top of being really talented, are super-sweet, nice, kind people. I have a feeling if you’re an asshole on Music Row, you don’t last very long. It’s not that kind of town, and I know what those kinds of towns are like, speaking of my other job. And it’s not like that at all. I just found that to be such a cool, encouraging community.
I could go in with an almost-finished song, or I could go in with absolutely nothing and come out with a song, just because you sit there with someone you’ve never met, and you get really deep, real fast. You start immediately talking about some of the most important things going on in your soul, and I think that’s my favorite part of the whole experience, just going in these rooms with these really talented people who’ve written songs that I grew up listening to and then getting to write with them. I can’t believe it. I pinch myself every time.
AS: Speaking of impressive track records, not a bad producer you had there in Dave Cobb.
LG: Dude, what happened, bro? How did any of this happen? [Laughs] My A&R guy set up a breakfast meeting, and Dave was like, “Oh, we met 12 years ago.” And I said, “We did?” And he said, “Yeah, you were doing a pilot called Outlaw Country.” And it’s true. Shooter Jennings was the music supervisor, and Shooter and Dave are really good friends. Dave was living in L.A., and Shooter took me to Dave Cobb’s house, and I didn’t remember this.
Anyway, this time, Dave was like, “Look man, it’s pretty simple. If I like the songs, we’ll do it.” So I sent him three or four iPhone work tapes, and he was like, “Yeah, I’m in.”
AS: I was impressed so much by the subtlety and restraint in these songs, both musically and lyrically. What led you in that direction?
LG: That’s a big testament to Dave. You could have taken those same, stripped-down-to-bare-bones work tapes of me singing into an iPhone and you could go any direction with that. You could put a Nashville producer on that and make it sound like something that should be on the radio [but] has a lot of computers making the music. But that’s against Dave Cobb’s religion.
I might have even tried to make it a little bigger, just because I wanted it to work, because I wanted to do it again. My thought was, “We’ve got to make this music accessible so that I can keep making it.” He was always the one who was like, “No, don’t worry about that. Let’s just make it honest and make it sound like what it sounds like. Let’s make it sound like human beings making music.”
And I’m actually glad looking back. That was the right call. Because it’s something that I will always be proud of and can stand behind. As someone who loves music, it’s real music. It’s not a bunch of programmed beats. I think people are craving real human stuff these days. I think we’ve gone so far in the other direction that human beings playing music, weirdly, is the oddball. But it’s the thing that people are going to crave the most.
AS: I was also struck by the fact that you didn’t over-sing these songs, but rather trusted the songs and the natural quality of your voice to do its thing with the melodies. Was it a process to get to that point?
LG: Man, I was learning how to sing, to be honest. I’d only really ever sang alone in my bedroom. I’d never stood up in front of people with a microphone in my life and sang into it ever until this year. And I hadn’t even done a show yet while we were doing the album. So a lot of that restraint is probably me being a bit bashful, and that was just the truth of where I was as a singer.
AS: Writing happy love songs is tough, but you’ve got some beauties on this record. Did the sentiments come from personal experience?
LG: When we were going through the sequencing, I realized there are a bunch of f—-boy songs from before I met my wife, and then there are songs where I’m actually a grown man who’s happy. If you think about it, the first half of the album is, “I’m lonely, this sucks, my life is terrible.” And then all of a sudden, I meet my wife and everything gets awesome. And it’s all true. Half of those songs on the album, I was writing from my prior experience before her. And the other half was since I’ve known her. There’s a part of me that’s actually like, “Do I have any songs in me now that I’m just happy and married? Is there anything to talk about anymore?” [Laughs]
AS: There are a few weepers on the album, too, and “Ghost of Who We Were” is a real standout. What inspired that one?
LG: I lost my dad a couple of years ago, and it was the first big death I dealt with. That song started with the idea of a loss like that, and it morphed into, “What if we took that same idea and made it more ambiguous?” It made it more about a relationship. When I went in, I had that first verse and a chorus. I wrote the song with Nicolle Galyon and Rodney Clawson. But that whole first verse—When I walk out that front door, I don’t see a front yard—I was thinking about what my mother was going through. It became less my perspective and more about my mother’s perspective on losing him. And it just evolved.
AS: “South on 75” is such an evocative song, with a fantastic melody. How did that one come to life?
LG: I was in Savannah in Dave’s studio with two guys that I love writing with, Brent Cobb and Aaron Raitiere, both awesome songwriters. We all grew up very close to the 75 Highway. Brent had this idea about the other side of 75. He was talking about how, in Georgia, there are two sides to that highway. Then to make it more personal, I talked about how on my first trip to Nashville, me and my wife drove south on 75 from Dayton, Ohio, to Nashville. I remember on that drive that I was so intimidated and scared. I had a million thoughts in my head, and I looked over at my wife, and she’s just enjoying the scenery out the window. And I was like, “That’s what’s up. I want to be more like that.”
AS: I know you loved the co-writes, but can you see yourself going for more of a singer/songwriter vibe in the future?
LG: I think the next record will definitely have a couple of my own. To be honest, I just wasn’t there yet on this first one. I learned some really valuable stuff being around these incredible songwriters. I was lucky and spoiled. I got a lot of new tools for the tool belt just sitting in these rooms. I can see now how you can take half an idea and turn it into a full song. I’m still going to do co-writes because that’s how you get the best songs, and I love the practice of it. But I’m going to take some swings and see what happens.
AS: You’ve accomplished a ton as an actor. But I would think releasing an album ranks right up there with any of that, especially for such a music fan as yourself. How excited are you for this?
LG: I’ll tell you what, man, I wish I could just experience what a cool thing is happening. But there is a lot of fear about how it’s going to be received. Because I care so much about music and it’s so important to me, I really hope that real musicians and songwriters can dig it. My biggest fear is that it’s going to be the thing that I was worried about. And I don’t know if that will ever go away. I hope there’s a point where there’s an actual vinyl in my hands where I’ll be super proud of it. But I’m still just very scared.
Photo by Hank Chafin / Courtesy UMG
