How ‘Yellowstone’ Selects Its Music

Yellowstone’s music supervisor makes sure the show’s featured songs provide the perfect background to the Western drama. Audiences in record numbers are tuning in to the Emmy-nominated Paramount Network television series and enjoying the searing family drama, which is augmented by the show’s Western-tinged soundtrack. In a 2021 interview with Music Row, the series’ music supervisor Andrea von Foerster spoke about how she and co-creator Taylor Sheridan recruited singers across a wide spectrum, using songs from Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton and Kacey Musgraves.

“Taylor and Andrea do an amazing job ensuring every note of music placed in the show serves a purpose,” VP of Creative Music Strategy, ViacomCBS (now Paramount), Sabrina Del Priore told Music Row. “Their dedication to authenticity provides a tremendous opportunity for artist discovery, which is always important to us at the network.” 

Von Foerster has a career of more than 20 years to show for it. She has worked on films such as (500) Days of Summer, Fantastic Four, including the television shows Dollhouse, Don’t Trust The B In Apt. 23, Modern Family, Queen Of The South. She told Music Row that she and Sheridan decided to pull from specific music genres that complimented the cowboy aesthetics of the series. 

“We tend to use red dirt country a lot, so artists from Texas and Oklahoma, as well as Americana, and country rock,” Von Foerster explained. 

Artists Yellowstone features often reap the handsome rewards from exposure to a large viewing audience. After the show featured three songs from southern rock band Whiskey Myers, the group appeared in a bar scene during an episode. Shortly after its airing, three of the band’s albums rocketed to the Top 10 of the iTunes Country Album Chart. 

“Obviously I have artists pitched to me from labels, publishers, managers and agents,” Von Foerster said. “But I also go down massive Twitter and YouTube rabbit holes, that’s how I find artists that aren’t as well-known. 

She said to expect the show to continue to foster underground talent for Season 5, introducing them to a new, wider, platform to promote their music. “We have such a solid fan base that really loves the music. I always want to keep introducing everyone to new artists or local artists that they know and love,” Von Foerster remarked. “We certainly don’t overlook major label artists, we love Chris Stapleton like no other, but it’s nice to give a leg up to the up-and-coming folks.” 

Yellowstone’s Season 4 finale in January was the most-watched telecast on cable since The Walking Dead Season 8 premiere on AMC in October 2017, receiving 9.3 million total viewers in Live+Same Day viewership.