Ryan Bingham & the Texas Gentlemen

Live in Colorado Springs 6/4/2025

Last night I braved the elements to see my first concert in nearly a year, courtesy of Ryan Bingham & the Texas Gentlemen. And I am so glad I did.

I rarely go to concerts anymore. The cost, courtesy of professional scalpers like Ticketmaster, has made affording these things a rarity. Plus, going to a concert alone doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. But I really like Bingham’s music—it’s often the soundtrack to long road trips and my house cleaning days—so I plunked down $90 on the hopes that this might prove some sort of distraction from living in Colorado while being a member of the working class. Plus, the Ford Amphitheater was rumored to be pretty darn good, so I might as well give it a shot.

Like many of you, I was introduced to Bingham’s work through Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, where Bingham played the former convict and cowhand Walker, who somehow managed to survive the series. Say what you want about Sheridan (I think he’s cocky as hell but he’s a worker), but the man has an ear for music. He also introduced me to another favorite of mine in Shane Smith and the Saints. Over time, I found myself listening to one Bingham song and then another as Spotify continually picked up on my musical leanings perhaps better than I could.

Ryan Bingham’s voice is perhaps best described as though an infant were bottle fed Johnny Walker Black and weaned on Marlboro Reds. It’s course and gravely and doesn’t remotely produce sounds that one might conventionally describe as “good.” But it works. There’s a Southern Plains loneliness to his stylings and I get the sense that Bingham feels the way about railway box cars the way Jimmy Buffett felt about the ocean.

He is not a conventionally handsome man. He’s built like a string bean. His teeth aren’t nice. And judging by those cigarettes I imagine he’s got a smell to him. But he’s married to a bombshell in Hassie Harrison, which tells me that if I pick up a guitar and a supporting role in a Sheridan show then maybe I’ve got a shot at a different bombshell.

My first surprise when I arrived was there was no actual parking lot for people. This was incredibly comforting since the state model of Colorado is “Hey what’s in your car?” Fortunately like my hopes and dreams of being a fashion model, most of my possessions were dispersed with years ago, so I locked the truck and began the short hike to Mordor, uh, Ford Amphitheater.¹ On the positive side, the walk at least gave me the opportunity to admire the spectrum of Toyotas and Subarus aligning the street.

Here’s a cool thing- the Ford Amphitheater in Colorado Springs is terrific. Red Rocks gets all the love, and rightfully so, but it’s not much larger and tickets here are a third of the cost. Plus, Ford Amphitheater was impeccably clean, well designed, easy to navigate, and staffed with really friendly people. This place is a real win.

I had planned on making fun of the concession prices but I’ll be damned if they weren’t reasonable as well. A 25oz can of beer was $16, which is really not much more per ounce than you’ll find at a local brewery. Plus, I was able to get a totally unexpected and tasty lamb gyro for $12. They didn’t even look at me weird when I asked them to hold the tzatziki sauce.²

I have a story that goes with this brewery that I’ll share with you sometime, but for now, know that Kona always brings found memories and a smile to my face.

Another win: my seats. For that $90 I got fourth row seats maybe 25 feet away from the stage. The acoustics were terrific and even though I’m steadily morphing into the late Walter Mathau, even I could see everything on stage really well.

While there, I made some friends who saw my Smokey Bear baseball cap. I’m always wearing it because it encourages conversation. This of course led to a conversation about what I do and I had a really cool time sharing about the Tribes who call Colorado home. They even helped me film a video.

I’m happy to say that Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen put on one hell of a show as well. There was no opening act and they started promptly at 7:30. Their show had two sets with a break of about 20 minutes in the middle. I’d never seen this done before, but it was a smart move. Everyone had time to get to the restroom and get some food or drink before they started up again. Admire if you will the following collage of people you will probably never meet in a series with no context whatsoever:

The guys played mostly new stuff the first set, which was a combination of Texas folk and also some blues, and then launched into their more well known stuff in the second hour. For my, the highlight was their performance of Hallelujah, which is my favorite song by them and one of my favorite songs, period. They just nailed it. Sometimes bands don’t have their best shows when you see them. That’s ok. Everyone is human. But they brought it tonight. I’m not going to bore you with my crappy recording of the song from my iphone, but if you’re interested, here’s the version that hooked me a few years ago. And they sounded just like it tonight. I sang with them.

All in all, it was an amazing show and I’m so glad I went. If you get the chance, I’d definitely suggest seeing if they’re coming to a venue near you. I absolutely hope to see them play again. It was a great night.

Jason

Hey, if you like reading paragraphs where people ask you to donate money, boy do I have great news for you. If you wanna support what I’m doing here, you can do so by becoming a paid subscriber, which you can do via the button below. We’ve got a great new pod coming for you Friday, too.

1. I know, I should’ve just called the eagles. Besides, I had Lembas bread in the truck.

2. I don’t eat white condiments. No, it’s not a hard rule, more of a guideline. Fine, I’ll tell you: no mayo, no sour cream, no ranch, no horseradish, no blue cheese. Because they’re gross. You eat them.