BRIAN TYLER is one of the 21st century’s most accomplished and exciting composers of film and television scores. With more than 70 scores to his credit, Brian’s scoring credits include Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Wan’s Furious 7 and F. Gary Gray’s Fate of the Furious as well as others in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians, for which he was voted to the 2019 Oscar shortlist for Best Original Score, Clouds directed by Justin Baldoni, and most recently, Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead. And for the past four years, he has been the composer for Taylor Sheridan’s acclaimed YELLOWSTONE starring Kevin Costner which airs on the Paramount Network. Brian is also known for conducting symphonic concerts of his movies around the globe and frequently conducts the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Orchestra of London, and the Hollywood Studio Symphony. One of his greatest strengths, however, is his use of instrumentation within his compositions, something which has elevated and aided in the musical journey of YELLOWSTONE over the past three seasons and undoubtedly into the upcoming fourth season.
Thanks to his travels that found him living around the world, BRETON VIVIAN calls on global influences with his compositions, infusing fresh and unique sounds to not only provide a “new” musical sonic experience but an emotional one. Known for his work as an arranger and score conductor, as well as writing additional music for films like Crazy Rich Asians and the documentary The Devil We Know Breton also previously worked as a composer’s assistant to BRIAN TYLER which led him to become a co-composer with Brian for YELLOWSTONE, Season 3.
As each season of YELLOWSTONE digs deeper into the history of the Dutton family and the Yellowstone Ranch and the present day battles facing John Dutton (Kevin Costner), be it with his children, posturing with the government for laws and rights beneficial to not only the Yellowstone but all ranchers in the region, fighting off unscrupulous developers and trespassers and horse thieves, the neverending debate between Dutton and Chief Thomas Rainwater over land rights, the underlying theme of everything created by Taylor Sheridan is family; John Dutton honors family – those that came before him, his children now, and the future with his grandson Tate.
With the Season 3 storyline intensifying, BRIAN TYLER and BRETON VIVIAN have expanded the musical construction and mirrored that intensity musically, adding more percussion, stronger tremolo, even some softness with the relationships between John Dutton and daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly) and the powerful love story of Beth and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser). And with Season 3 more than in the prior two seasons, the music provides some prescience or foreshadowing of what is to come.
Brian and Bret submitted Episode 1 of Season 3, “You’re the Indian Now”, for Emmy consideration this year. Having watched the entire series multiple times, Season 3 is a powerhouse. Violence begets violence, everything gets turned on its head, motorcycles and bikers tearing up a pasture, new developers move in for a takeover of the ranch and the land, family secrets come to light with explosive results, some of the Yellowstone’s own – ranchhands Teeter and Colby – are attacked and trampled by horses, and in the season finale, a three-pronged attack on John Dutton and the Yellowstone. And then there’s the romance of Rip and Beth. So with all of this emotion and music to choose from, it begs the question, why Episode 1.
I spoke at length with BRIAN TYLER and BRETON VIVIAN in this exclusive conversation where we dove into Season 3, and most particularly the music of Episode 1, discussing composition and musical construction, instrumentation and arrangement, emotionality, and more.
According to Brian, Episode 1 “sets the table” for what is going to happen storywise. If you’re familiar with Seasons 1 and 2, Episode 1 “kind of brings you into that world and the idea that this story is starting to change in a direction that it’s going to be for the rest of the season. And musically we started establishing those things pretty early.” And what truly establishes that tone, that foreshadowing, is the first motif in the episode, “A New Morning” as it starts off with a violin fiddle with a “daybreak” kind of feel blending melancholy over the events that had just happened melded with the idea of hope. It is an exquisite composition. Layered and textured. Tonally the piece is more complex with a “melodic, emotionally resonant style that has a ton of space and the silences and pauses between the bars where the music is not crowded in any way… [it’s] certainly a way to introduce people to the tone that’s going to be YELLOWSTONE Season 3.”
The music of Episode 1 boasts many beautiful and powerful motifs, including a stronger presence of the “Yellowstone Theme” interwoven into multiple pieces, which all meld together in such a way that even if unfamiliar with the series and are a first-time viewer, the music will set the stage. And to set the stage for the scoring of YELLOWSTONE, Season 3, Episode 1,
TAKE A LISTEN TO BRIAN TYLER AND BRETON VIVIAN. . . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview June 17, 2021
