Luke Grimes on making his Grand Ole Opry debut, 'Yellowstone,' family and more
"Yellowstone" actor and country singer Luke Grimes made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.
"I can't believe it's happening, first of all," Grimes told "Good Morning America" backstage before he hit the iconic stage. "I've always loved music. I've played music since I was really young. I never thought I would do it to a level where I got to play the Opry, and it means the world."
Grimes said he was equal parts "honored" and "so nervous" for the moment, adding that he wanted to "be present and really soak up that moment of being able to stand in that circle because so many of my heroes have done it."
"Just to feel like I'm part of that community at all is amazing," he continued.
Read on to hear what Grimes told "GMA" about his music, his family life and his time on "Yellowstone" -- plus if his character Kayce Dutton has a life beyond the popular series in Taylor Sheridan's TV universe.
On his self-titled debut album and musical influences
Grimes released his debut album in March, a milestone he said "feels like a dream come true."
He said the self-titled project is a way for him to "introduce people to me" versus who they see when he's acting.
"This is kind of who I really am. This is my real story," he said of the music, saying the album is him being able to "start from chapter one and tell the beginning of the story."
That story is told through songs like "No Horse to Ride" and "Hold On," two songs off the album and the two he performed during his Opry debut.
Grimes said one of his biggest musical inspirations came from growing up playing music in church, saying gospel music had a "huge influence" on him, as well as the music from his childhood.
"My dad loved all the '70s outlaw country stuff. That was huge in our house. Elvis was huge in our house. So anything sort of Americana, that kind of thing," he explained. "And then, growing up, I was a '90s kid. So '90s country radio -- like Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, you know, all those guys."
"I think the '70s and the '90s were just really, really great times for country music," he said.
On how fatherhood has changed him
Grimes and his wife Bianca Rodrigues Grimes announced the arrival of their firstborn child, a son named Rigel, in October.
"I'm still processing how it's changing me, you know, day by day," he said of fatherhood, calling it "the biggest event that's ever happened in my life."
"Just sort of continually trying to wrap my head around the miracle that has taken place in my life," he added. "It's wonderful, it's wild, it's sleepless, it's amazing. It's all the things, man. It's life amplified."
During his Opry set, Grimes brought out Bianca and their son onstage with him, telling the audience, "I just wanted y'all to meet him and I wanted him to stand in the circle for a second."
Watch the moment here:
Grimes said his whole family came to support him for his Opry debut.
"I'm glad I get to look back on this night and know that they all got to share it with me, and it's a huge deal for them," he continued. "I think they're all just kind of as shocked as me that this is even happening."
On the return of "Yellowstone" and Kevin Costner's departure
"Yellowstone" returned earlier this month to continue Season 5 -- and did so in a huge way. Kevin Costner's character, John Dutton, the father of Grimes' Kayce Dutton, was killed off following Costner's exit from the series.
"I was shocked. It happens fast. It happens out of left field. You don't see it coming," Grimes said of reading the script for the first time, noting that press coverage of Costner's exit "was sort of a big spoiler for people knowing that something was going to happen."
Grimes said losing the show's central character reflects how unexpectedly loved ones can die in real life.
"It's supposed to be shocking, and it's supposed to kind of sweep the rug out from under you, the way that this show always has. There's always something happening that you don't see coming, and that's sort of the beauty of it," he explained.
"I know there's some fans that are upset, but I think this sort of had to happen to open the story up," he added. "It's like, can it survive without him, without the immovable force, you know? And it really does. It blows the story wide open."
Grimes chalks up the success of "Yellowstone" -- aside from his fellow castmates and those behind the scenes -- to the show's co-creator and writer Taylor Sheridan, who he called "one of the greatest living screenwriters that we have," and said it all comes together as "lightning in a bottle."
When "Yellowstone" comes to a close at the end of its fifth season, Grimes said whether he has a future as Kayce all depends on Sheridan's involvement.
"These characters are like his brain children and he knows how to write them and he knows how to tell this story and it's so unique that I don't know if anyone else could do it," he said. "So it'd have to be with him to do more."
In the meantime, Grimes has advice for fans regarding the final episodes.
"Just don't blink," he teased. "Everything happens really fast."
