Luke Grimes has been acting for nearly 20 years. His acting credits include All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, the Fifty Shades trilogy, The Magnificent Seven, and more recently, Yellowstone. After writing and singing songs for his own enjoyment for years, Grimes released his debut EP last year. Earlier this year, he dropped his self-titled debut album. It took a major personal tragedy to give him the push he needed to start his career as a musician.
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Shortly after he released his debut album, Grimes sat down with CMT to talk about the album. During the conversation, he revealed how his father’s passing gave him the push he needed to start a recording career.
[RELATED: Luke Grimes Reveals How Taylor Sheridan Selects Music for ‘Yellowstone’]
Luke Grimes on How His Father’s Death Inspired His Country Music Career
The Yellowstone star’s father, Pastor J. Randy Grimes passed away in February 2022. The tragedy helped him decide to move forward with his long-held dream. “That’s when I decided, ‘ You know what? Life’s short. I can’t be so worried about what people think that I don’t do what I want to do,’” he said. Reflecting on the decision, he said, “I think Dad would be very proud.”
Country music fans have loved Grimes’ debut album. Songs like “No Horse to Ride” and “Hold On” have garnered tens of millions of streams so far. At the same time, the album was a way for the longtime actor to step away from playing characters and introduce himself to his fans. However, his music career almost didn’t happen.
In an interview with People, Grimes talked about his reluctance to take the leap into country music. During the chat, he revealed that he had been writing songs as a hobby for years. However, he never planned to record or release any of those songs. Songwriting was akin to therapy for him. Then, his manager approached him about becoming a recording artist.
“We talked about it for a couple years before I actually decided to do it and went ahead with the meeting and the labels,” he said. “I had so many reservations about, ‘Is it going to be weird? Do I need to do this?’” he explained.
Then, after his father’s passing, he started to wonder if he would regret not taking the chance when he had it and decided he would. “I knew I would’ve regretted not at least giving it a shot,” he recalled.
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