Fans of the hit television series Yellowstone can be sure of two things: One, Beth Dutton will absolutely eviscerate anyone who even dreams of crossing the Dutton family; and two, each episode will feature incredible country music. If the songs from the Yellowstone soundtrack have been in constant rotation in your country music playlists, you have the show's music supervisor, Andrea von Foerster, to thank.
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Since 2018, von Foerster has been the go-to music guru for Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. She's gone on to helm the soundtracks for upcoming Sheridan projects, such as Landman and Special Ops: Lioness ("That is entirely different music than everything else in the entire Taylor-verse," von Foerster says of the Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman CIA drama.)
The Dutton saga is far from von Foerster's first foray into music supervision — she's worked on everything from indie favorite 500 Days of Summer to the Ben Affleck sports drama Air. But the show has offered her the unique opportunity to work almost exclusively in the country music world and help give rising and independent country artists the opportunity of a lifetime. The show's soundtrack has had a profound impact on the careers of artists such as Lainey Wilson, who went from a soundtrack staple to series star, and Zach Bryan, whose place in Yellowstone lore was solidified by a Twitter DM and a whirlwind trip to Nashville to record his songs with producer Dave Cobb. (Bryan would later appear in person in the show's fifth season.)
"Yellowstone has been a gift since day one," von Foerster tells Wide Open Country. "We have a very narrow lane of music — it's Red Dirt Country, it's not typically pop country, even though we've gone there a couple times. But being able to be on the playground that Taylor [Sheridan] has created and I get to put the toys on it, it's really fun because he loves music. I love music. We have the same taste. And getting to be a part of people's story is the best — just being able to help people, because what's the point of any kind of ranking system or power or anything if you can't help people? It's really exciting to be able to help be a part of someone's dream coming true. You can't ask for more than that."
Wide Open Country caught up with von Foerster, who'll take part in the Music of Yellowstone panel at the inaugural Billboard Country Live event on Wednesday, June 7, to discuss Wilson's rise to stardom, how Yellowstone characters influence musical choices, and why independent artists should always check their DMs.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You scouted Lainey Wilson very early on. What has it been like to watch her journey?
You've also been a huge champion of Zach Bryan. I read that you actually reached out to him directly. How often do you reach out to artists directly for the series?
Do certain characters inspire music choices or influence song choices?
Paramount
For Yellowstone, a hundred percent, because there are certain characters that don't have music. They sort of lack music in their heart and their soul, so we don't play it over them. Jamie is a character we don't put music over. He's sort of a shape shifter because he's always trying to figure out where he belongs. You could see the desperation and you can have some empathy for it, but he just tends to make really bad decisions. Beth is somebody who there's very often music playing where she is. Then there's the music that we play for her and Rip. But Rip doesn't tend to have music by himself. He only has it if he's with the Bunkhouse Boys and they're doing roping or training or moving cattle. Kayce doesn't tend to have music on his own, but he does if he's with Monica. Monica tends to not have music on her own. For John Dutton, he doesn't have music on his own except for the end-of-the-episode montage kind of things or if they're moving cattle again. So there's a lot of people that only have music when it's a group setting versus a solo situation.
Are there any rising artists that you're really excited to work with in the future on Yellowstone or any Taylor Sheridan projects?
Landman is Taylor's next show that we'll be shooting. I mean, everything's happening at the same time, but that's the next new show, and there are definitely people we have eyed for that one already that I'm very excited about.
