Have you ever wondered how Luke Grimes spun his Yellowstone stardom into his country music career? The actor who brought Kayce Dutton to life in the hit Taylor Sheridan show owes a lot to Yellowstone. Grimes is currently starring in a spinoff, Marshals, where he’s reprising his role, and he was able to pursue a music career because of the fame he gained through the flagship series. Being able to continue playing Kayce is a blessing… but he sometimes views being a musician as a curse. I only say that because, in a recent interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Grimes spoke about the horrific stage fright he has when he’s the man behind the microphone. Early on (and sometimes even now), there were times where he wished he could call off his own concerts. Grimes explained that he loves the process of making music, but he’s not crazy about playing it live: “I had always played music, but when I was playing in bands, I was the drummer. I always wrote songs and stuff, but I never thought or had the ambition of, ‘I want to be the guy in front of the microphone.’ That was never the plan. Then to be able to make an album, which I wanted to do, you have to go stand in front of a microphone. That’s the hard part for me. I love being in the studio. I love writing the songs, making the music, recording the music. But there’s something about knowing that all these people have shown up and bought tickets to see me… all of the sudden this thing starts happening in me like, ‘They bought a ticket, imposter syndrome, you’re not good enough.'” That imposter syndrome that Grimes feels really comes down to experience. The 42-year-old actor doesn’t get nervous on the set of TV shows because he’s been acting for over 20 years. All of those nerves have gone to the way side thanks to repetition. But singing in front of people is a different beast… mainly because Grimes has only been doing that for around three years. And the opportunity to do so came through a random call he got while he was on the set of Yellowstone: “The very first show I played, I was 39. It came about in the weirdest way. I was literally on set one day and I get a call out of the blue from this music manager. He called and said, ‘Hey, I know you don’t know who I am, but I know that you a musician. And I love you in ‘Yellowstone.’ Is (music) something that you’d want to take seriously?’ I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘I bet I could get you a record deal.’ And I said, ‘No man, I don’t want to do that.’ We talked for two years, and over the course of two years, I really started to trust him.” Though trust was building, Luke Grimes couldn’t ever pull the trigger (the character he plays on Yellowstone and Marshals hasn’t ever had that problem, eh?). It was only when the actor suffered a major loss in his life that he decided to go for it. In the midst of acting on Yellowstone, and talking to the music manager, his father passed away. One of the last things his dad told him was the little nudge he needed to jump into the world of music: “Long story short, my father passed away somewhere in there, and one of the last things he sort of conveyed to me was, ‘If there’s anything that you want to do while you are here, do it.’ Something about that moment, I said, ‘I’m just gonna f***ing do it. What’s the worst thing that could happen? I’m another actor who made a goofy album.'” To be clear… Luke Grimes didn’t make a goofy album. His debut, self-titled album in 2024 was greatly appreciated by Yellowstone and country music fans alike, and he’s actually got a sophomore project on the way (Redbird drops April 3). And once he decided to go for it with music, he was almost immediately thrown into the touring life. His first show in Billings, Montana was in front of 1,200 people. That might not seem like a lot, but it was enough for Grimes to black out from nerves. His fourth ever show was at Stagecoach… so it was all a little bit of baptism by fire. But slowly, Luke Grimes has gotten more comfortable as a musician. And you can hear him talk about that – and the whirlwind way he got into music – in the interview below: The post Luke Grimes Details How ‘Yellowstone’ Helped Him Get His Record Deal & The Imposter Syndrome He Feels Because Of It first appeared on Whiskey Riff.