'Yellowstone' star Luke Grimes says 'Cincinnati has more flavor' than Ohio's other towns

Luke Grimes is often pictured residing in the Montana mountains, thanks to his character, Kayce Dutton, from the uber-popular TV series "Yellowstone."

But the actor's roots are firmly in Ohio. The Dayton native graduated from Dayton Christian High School in 2002 before venturing off to New York City and then appearing in numerous big shows and films, including "True Blood," the "Fifty Shades" movie franchise, "American Sniper" and more.

While he pretends to be people from entirely different places for work, Grimes is now using his other job to pay homage to his home state. The 40-year-old released his debut, self-titled country album in March, which features a song called "Oh Ohio." The track's official music video even includes images from around the state, such as the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati.

"I felt like it was important, especially on this first album, to (be like) 'This is who I really am,' and to start the story at page one," Grimes told The Enquirer. "I couldn't do that without talking about where I come from. You don't hear a lot of songs about Ohio; there's not a lot of Ohio love out there. ... The thing that's special to me about that song is that it's not all positive. There's parts of where I grew up that I love, but, obviously, I left. So there was something that I didn't feel that I was supposed to be there forever."

"But I wouldn't change a thing. I loved growing up there. I think it's an amazing place to grow up."

Luke Grimes returns to Ohio for his tour

Grimes kicked off his Playin' On The Tracks Tour in Philadelphia Nov. 9. He returns to his home state for two separate shows, one in Cleveland Nov. 21 and another at Bogart's in Cincinnati on Nov. 22.

"I'm not the most extroverted person in the world, so showing up to a place where a couple thousand people pay (for) tickets to see me for an hour is actually terrifying for me every time," he said. "But then when I'm on stage for a few minutes, and I start to calm down and I start to get in the moment and get in the music and have that sort of exchange of energy with an audience, then it becomes pretty magical."

Bogart's, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, has hosted some legendary artists: James Brown, Pearl Jam, the Ramones, Beastie Boys, The Strokes, Snoop Dogg, Vanilla Ice and more.

This will be the first time Grimes will ever step inside Bogart's, but he is hoping to "soak up the spirit" of those icons.

"That will be really cool; I know how legendary it is," he said. "I feel super lucky to get to play anywhere, but the fact that I'm getting to play these historic places where some really great musicians have come through is not lost on me."

It's also the chance to return to a city he spent a lot of time in while growing up roughly an hour northeast.

Grimes has memories of visiting friends in Cincinnati during his college-age years, hanging out at Over-the-Rhine bars.

"We had just some great nights hanging out down there, and I'd stay at their place," he recalled. "I've always said this, Cincinnati has more flavor than any other town in Ohio. It's definitely got a vibe, where some bigger cities in Ohio can feel kind of vanilla, Cincinnati has a lot of flavor."

OK, but what's his opinion on the flavor of Cincinnati-style chili?

"This is like asking which way I lean politically or something," Grimes joked. "I will say this, for anyone whose never had it, because I know a lot of people that aren't from Ohio just don't understand what chili spaghetti is: Don't knock it before you try it. It's delicious. It's especially delicious at like midnight, for some reason."

How growing up in church influenced Grimes' music career

Grimes' late father, Randy Grimes, was a longtime pastor of a church in Dayton, where Luke Grimes' interest in music first started.

As a pastor's kid, he would help wherever he was needed in the church, which included running the sound board.

"There was always issues on the way home about how the mic would stop working or something," he said.

The music team's drummer then ultimately moved away, and Grimes' brother, who led the music, taught him the basics of playing drums.

"The next week, I was on the stage playing drums," he said, adding he was terrified to be up there.

"Little by little, I started falling in love with being in a band and everyone listening to each other, the actual process of making music live," Grimes said.

He enjoyed it so much that music became a passion of his. He'd annoy his parents by constantly playing drums in the basement.

"It sort of stayed with me as I started my acting journey. In New York, I was in bands and played music. In LA, I was in bands," Grimes, who went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, said. "It just always kept the creativity alive when I couldn't get hired to save my life in LA, it took forever for me to get any acting jobs, I always had my crew, my band. So that was a saving grace. If I wouldn't have had that, I think I would have been very depressed and lonely and creatively unfulfilled."

On becoming a dad

In addition to being on tour and the final installment of "Yellowstone" kicking off Sunday, Grimes, who now lives in Montana, is also learning how to be a father. He and his wife, Bianca Rodrigues Grimes, recently welcomed their first child, sharing a photo to Instagram on Oct. 9.

"That first little bit's kind of a doozy," he said Oct. 30, when his son was six weeks old.

"Even from the time that my wife was pregnant, you just start thinking in terms of like how my decisions, as far as ... what I need to do for career things, how that's going to affect everyone now, so I started already making decisions differently," he said. "Then, every day it feels like your heart grows a little bit. It makes you want to work on yourself in a way that you hadn't before."

"It used to be, 'I want to be a better person for me,' which is one thing, but when you need to be a better person for your child and their mother, the stakes are higher. And I just feel like life becomes a little less casual."

Luke Grimes on the final chapter of 'Yellowstone,' its cultural impact

The long-awaited second half of "Yellowstone" season 5 started Sunday, which is the final chapter of the show people have grown to love. (There has been speculation of a future spinoff, though.)

"I think (fans) can expect it to sort of finally get all tied up and feel a real ending to this iteration of 'Yellowstone,'" he said. "I know that there's rumblings it could go on in different ways with certain characters, but I think the 'Yellowstone' as we all know it truly comes to an end and in a way that I think is really beautiful and really satisfying. At least it was for me."

The elephant in the room, however, is Kevin Costner, or the lack thereof. The show's star, who played John Dutton, is not in the final portion of the series.

"It definitely felt different," he said. "That's a big weight to be gone. John Dutton was being the patriarch of the show and really carried a lot of weight on his shoulders. Having him gone, though, was part of the story. It was sort of art imitating life imitating art. The story was always going to be, 'Can the family keep the ranch when the rock is gone; when the patriarch is gone?' So, I think that ended up happening in a little more realistic way than we all expected. But that was the arc of the show, always."

And with the series coming to an end, the cultural impact of "Yellowstone" is not lost on Grimes. The first part of season 5 was the most-watched entertainment show on TV during the 2022-23 television season, according to Variety.

"I always thought it would find an audience because (executive producer and creator) Taylor Sheridan; it was really, really well-written. ... (It was) probably the favorite script I've ever read," he said. "I think it just came along at such a perfect moment. There's something about also COVID, everyone being stuck inside, and then watching this show about being in the mountains and on horseback; it was so romantic to everybody at a time when you felt kind of shut in. Who knows why exactly it happened the way happened, but it took a while. The viewership started small and it didn't really explode until season 4, which is not normal.

"I don't know what happened culturally in the shift and all that to make that happen, but man it happened. I remember feeling the difference and started seeing cowboy hats everywhere and I started seeing country music be No. 1 on every chart, which when has that ever happened in our lifetime? ... I've acted for 20 years, and I've never been in something that's been part of the cultural canon, or the zeitgeist if you will. So that's been a really interesting experience."

"Yellowstone" airs Sundays on Paramount Network and CBS, with its finale set for Dec. 15.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Luke Grimes on 'Yellowstone' being part of the cultural zeitgeist