The Grammy and Oscar winner tells PEOPLE how his positive headspace informs his creative process

“I’ve hit my stride a little bit,” Ryan Bingham tells PEOPLE about this point in his life and career.

The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and actor, 44, is hot on the heels of the release of his new song, “The Lucky Ones,” featuring his band, the Texas Gentlemen. On top of that, he earned another notch in his belt performing at the largest ticketed show in U.S. history alongside Zach Bryan and John Mayer.

Now, Bingham is acutely balancing an ever-ballooning career in music with married life to fellow Yellowstone star Hassie Harrison, who he commends as a grounding force and a creative north star while he works to record his next full-length album, his first body of new material since 2023’s Watch Out for the Wolf.

“I got a bunch of new songs that’s going to be coming out sometime next year. We’re still working on it… I always like to test them out live. People will let you know real quick whether they think they like it or not,” Bingham teases of the new record.

The artist, who cut his teeth strumming guitar in the rodeo circuit and took his sounds to local bars in Texas before going on to write the Academy Award-winning theme song for 2010’s Crazy Heart, shares, “I think I’m a lot more comfortable in my own skin and what I want to do… I am on my own label now and all that stuff, so there ain’t anybody telling me what to f—— do and what to write or anything like that.”

That mentality of staunch independence is a cornerstone of Bingham’s pursuit to create a new album reflecting his mindset that corporate talking heads no longer call the shots over his music.

“So I’m just like, man, we’re just going to go record all these songs that we like and we’re having fun with and let’s go let it rip,” he shares of the laissez-faire attitude towards tracking the new project, of which the title hasn’t yet been made public.

As for its expected content, the artist hints that “I’ve written a lot of these songs with [the Texas Gentlemen] in mind … what they play and what they can do. I’ve got plenty of ballads and acoustic things like that, but also some more band-driven type songs that are a lot of fun.”

Though it’s clear now to Bingham that another album is on the horizon, its genesis came about a bit more spontaneously. “I’ve been writing a lot. And it’s funny — nowadays I’ll go several months without writing a song, and then one day I’ll sit down and write three or four. You just gotta get out there and live first, and then they always seem to pop up,” Bingham shares.

“The first time we went into the studio, I had three songs. I’m like, ‘Let’s just go in there and start recording stuff.’ And literally we had 15, 16 songs before we knew it,” he recalls. “This round for this album came a lot quicker and a lot more spontaneous than I thought. I looked up and I was like, oh s—, we got a whole album here — or more than an album.”

Years of accolades have proven Bingham is a creative force in multiple capacities, but the star is quick to laud his wife as a major supporting factor in his life today.

“It’s been nothing but awesome,” the star gushes of his time with Harrison, whom he married in 2023. “Hassie’s been so wonderful … She brings so much joy to me, and she’s a comedian too, so she’s always making me laugh. She brings out this other side of me from when I was a kid, that, depending on how you grow up or whatever, it can be easy to lose some of that joy in your life. The world can kind of beat you down.”

“She’s really brought a spark and a fire back in me that’s letting me have a lot more fun with it. Just writing some fun and from is still a genuine place in me that’s just like, I’m happy I’m having fun. It brings a lot of joy,” he continues.

Bingham makes it clear that Harrison’s loving influence has left its mark all over the new project. “We laugh a lot, and so there’s some pretty sweet love songs in there that are fun and still meaningful. But there’s another thing. And she’s right. I’ve got plenty of sad cowboy songs in the can. So to have this whole fresh new batch of music being really positive … it’s uplifting for me, it makes me feel good when I’m singing these songs. I’m excited to have that opportunity to go out and play these on the road.”

As for balancing his relationship with Harrison and the demands of being a touring, recording musician, Bingham notes, “It’s a lot of patience.”

“A lot of not overreacting to things,” he adds. “As she says, ‘Sometimes we’re all just awalking each other home.’ So it’s nice to have a friend and a partner out there that sees you and that you can be there for them just as much as they are for you. And that goes both ways. And just remembering at the end of the day … you are truly in it together. Nothing can replace that.”

Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen are currently on the road for The All Night Long Tour 2025, which commences on Monday, Oct. 13, in Atlanta before trekking across the U.S. for two months, making stops in North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, concluding with a performance in Thackerville, Okla., on Dec. 13.