Taylor Sheridan, the brain behind the Yellowstone universe, approached composer Brian Tyler mid-script with a request that was… oddly poetic.

Some emotions cannot be spoken, so we orchestrate them. That’s not a line from some obscure Russian novel or an abandoned Radiohead lyric; it’s just our way of saying that sometimes, music does the heavy lifting when dialogue breaks down.

And in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, it’s the symphony, not just the storyline, that saddles up and rides straight into your chest like a galloping stallion of grief and grandeur.

We confess, we can’t deny the essence of the theme music. Haunting. Majestic. A melancholic lasso around your soul. Turns out, this wasn’t an accidental stroke of genius. Sheridan didn’t just want music; he wanted emotion carved into air. And that gave birth to the very theme that even Kevin Costner, who’s had his fair share of Yellowstone drama, can’t hate.

Taylor Sheridan personally shaped the haunting Yellowstone theme

Taylor Sheridan in Sons of Anarchy | Credit: FX
Needless to say, Taylor Sheridan isn’t your average showrunner. He doesn’t do writer’s rooms. He writes everything himself, like some stubborn cowboy who refuses help to mend a fence and ends up doing it faster, better, and with more style.

Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian, the musical minds behind three Sheridan shows, shed light on the theme’s origins during Deadline’s Sound & Screen event in 2023. Tyler recounted how Sheridan approached him mid-script, boots on, eyes sharp, with a crystal-clear idea of what the music had to evoke.

Sheridan wanted “a very cinematic kind of approach,” he said. Tyler remembered how, inspired by Sheridan’s vision, he found himself composing straight from the screenplay’s heartbeat. The Yellowstone theme was born right there.

Tyler said:
He wanted orchestral music, and he wanted something very emotional that explored the dark side too, that which reflects dynamically against the beauty.

It’s like where tragedy is beauty and you understand one because of the other. So I got together with him and, you know, he has his cowboy boots on and everything and … he’s amazing.
That phrase “tragedy is beauty” is a delicate truth that many filmmakers nod to but few pull off without feeling forced or manipulative. The soundtrack is a vital thread woven into the storytelling fabric. Tyler and Vivian stepped up to that challenge with aplomb, delivering some of the most stirring, powerful Western scores we’ve heard in recent memory.

Also, even Kevin Costner, whose presence looms large over Yellowstone, can’t resist the pull of the show’s theme.

What? Kevin Costner breaks free from Yellowstone drama

Kevin Costner in Yellowstone | Credits: Paramount Pictures
We know that Kevin Costner was the rugged heart of Yellowstone, embodying the formidable John Dutton with a gravitas that anchored the show. His performance was the kind of presence that made the character legendary, the unshakable rock amidst the series’ storms.

But then things went sideways. Costner began shifting his focus toward his own Western project, Horizon: An American Saga, and suddenly the alliance with Taylor Sheridan frayed into tension. That tension eventually led to a messy split, marking Costner’s official exit from the Dutton family saga.

Now, more than half a year after he confirmed he was done playing John Dutton, the man himself appears ready to close that chapter. According to a source close to him, Costner has softened his stance on the fallout and wants to start 2025 with a clean slate, free of grudges or hostility.

The Dances with Wolves star is setting his sights on rescuing his Horizon project and rebuilding the massive investment he and his partners have poured into it.

The Yellowstone feud? That’s firmly in the rearview mirror. The breakdown reportedly happened when two creative titans couldn’t see eye-to-eye anymore, but now Costner’s breathing easier.

As the insider put it (via Life & Style), his “final piece of the puzzle” is to find balance in his personal life and fully dedicate himself to Horizon once it’s wrapped.

Even with the ups and downs, there’s one piece of the Yellowstone legacy that Costner can’t argue with: the show’s hauntingly beautiful theme song. Whether you love Sheridan’s sprawling Western universe or just appreciate a well-crafted score, that music is undeniably epic.