‘Fear and Saturday Night’: How Ryan Bingham Defeated Darkness on Surprising New LP
Do you need solitude to write?
Yeah. I have to be alone to really reflect on what’s been happening in my life. I’ve never really been able to sit down with pen and paper and just formulate a song, or craft a song about it. You know, okay, I’m going to write a song about a baseball player. I’ve never been able to do that.
How long did you rent the Airstream for?
A couple of weeks at a time. I’d been looking for a cabin where I could lock myself away and write for a few weeks, and Anna actually found it on Airbnb. . .This guy had, like, 50 or 60 acres in the mountains, and he’s restored these two old Airstream trailers from the Fifties and rents them out. You felt you were in Mexico, or something. I’d get up in the mornings and go surf, and then go back and just write all day and night. Whenever I got stuck, I would go for hikes and just stomp around in the mountains. There were mule deer and coyotes everywhere. It was great.
What was the first song you wrote for the album?
“Nobody Knows My Trouble.” I spent about two days up there before I could write anything. It felt like forever. Nothing was happening, and then, finally, I took some whiskey up there, and I was, like, fuck it, I’m just going to have a few drinks. I got about half drunk up there and about 1:30 in the morning, I grabbed the guitar and that song just came out in about 10 minutes.
You‘ve worked with Jim Scott, T Bone Burnett and Marc Ford. Is there anyone else you‘d love to have produce you?
[The Black Keys’] Dan Auerbach. That record he did with Dr. John, I love that record. I’ve heard some other stuff that he’s done that I really like. The guy from Spoon, [Jim Eno], and also the guy from Radiohead that produces and did There Will Be Blood, [Jonny Greenwood]. Jeff Tweedy’s another guy that I’d really like to work with.
Let‘s reverse it. Is there a legend you‘d love to produce or work with like how Jack White worked with Loretta Lynn?
If I could write a song with anybody, it would be Dolly Parton. I think she’s a fantastic songwriter. She’s a very smart, talented woman. “I Will Always Love You” is one of the best songs ever written.
The album closes with “Gun Fightin‘ Man,” which sounds like something straight out of a spaghetti western.
It’s a really old song that I’ve had for a while. I’ve always loved those old gunfighter movies, and Gunsmoke. I wanted to record that song, but I didn’t want to send out the wrong message about gun violence and things like that. I believe in owning guns and everything, and I’ve grown up on ranches and always had a rifle in the truck, but I don’t know if having an AK-47 in my house is something that I need, or that some people should need.
Do you ever pick up your Oscar, or does that time seem like another life to you?
I don’t even know where it is right now, to be honest with you. . .Well, I do know, because we’re having some construction on our house. We had to move out for a few months. But I don’t get attached to things very easy, just moving around growing up, I had stuff taken away from me so much that I got to where I just didn’t get attached to stuff anymore.
That seems almost fitting given how future-focused you seem to be on the album, especially on its penultimate track, “Hands of Time,” which is about moving in only one direction: forward.
Yeah. Quit looking in the rearview mirror and just start looking out the windshield.