The Yellowstone actor, who fell in love with the state while filming and moved there to set down roots with his wife, Bianca Rodrigues, as a result, teamed up with Carhartt to shed light on what it’s really like to live and work out West. An extension of Carhartt’s “History in the Making” campaign, this two-part collaboration features “Made in Montana,” a short film celebrating the hard-working lifestyle of Montana farmers and ranchers, and new additions to the Montana Collection, a range of workwear designed for warmth and durability. Additionally, Carhartt is contributing $350,000 to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to support land preservation efforts in Montana’s Northern Great Plains.
“These days, a lot of people do these brand deals and collaborations and it’s just part of the game now in the new climate,” Luke tells Country Living. “I was trying to think of brands that I’d want to do that with and Carharrt was definitely at the very top of the list. I feel very honored to be part of such a cool brand, such a cool legacy.”
As an outdoor and workwear brand, Carhartt has long appealed to Luke. “I was always very outdoorsy,” he says. “I grew up hunting and that sort of stuff. [There’s] very good deer hunting in Ohio. And my dad always loved to fish and things like that. So, I grew up very outdoorsy, but never around mountains—Ohio, as you know, is very flat. I remember as a kid, we went to Colorado and I fell in love with it. I just couldn’t believe that it was a real place and that if there was an option to live in a place like that, that you wouldn’t. Like, why do we live in Ohio when this place exists?”
Discovering Colorado was just the beginning of Luke’s quest in the West. After moving to Los Angeles when he was 20 years old to pursue a film in acting, Luke made a point to explore the great outdoors as much as he could. “When I lived in LA, every year I would rent an RV and do a trip to some new part of the West, to some new park,” he shares. “I just loved it but always felt like I couldn’t because I had to be in LA to go on meetings and to auditions trying to get off the ground, but at a certain point, I met my wife and it all kind of came together where it felt like I hit a place in my career where I could live somewhere else. Also, technology had changed in a way where I could do meetings and auditions without being in LA, and my wife and I wanted to raise a family somewhere else; I kind of told her about [Montana] and she fell in love with it, too. That’s how we ended up here.”
As much as he came to love the landscape of Montana while working on Yellowstone, Luke admitted that he knew next to nothing about the farming and ranching that takes place there.
“[Yellowstone] was kind of a crash course—there was so much I didn’t understand,” he says. “Not only about cowboy culture but just agricultural, the business in general. I really learned a lot; I feel like Taylor is really good about putting things like that in the show for people like me who didn’t know a lot about that so they could learn a little more about where their food comes from and how complicated all of those industries are and what they’re up against these days. I didn’t know anything—it’s been such a cool introduction to be in something that’s so culturally relevant.”
And now, he’s expanding his knowledge of his newfound town in collaboration with Carhartt. “This short film isn’t about me—I’m narrating it but it’s more about the people who live here and the people that I’m learning from; the members of my community that have been kind enough to let my wife and me join the community,” he says. “I am not a farmer, I am not a rancher—I played one on TV—but I have a lot of reverence and respect for people that are. That’s what the film is about, what the campaign is about. I might be sort of the spokesperson, but it’s not about actors or singers; it’s about the people who do the things that are necessary for us to eat, and I’m just there to narrate it.”
In a press release for the “Made in Montana” campaign, Luke expanded on this idea. “It’s easy to just mindlessly go through your day, not thinking about the work that goes into putting food on your plate, but when you live in a place like this, it’s in your face all the time, you see the people out there doing it,” he said. “Without those people and their hard work, the rest of us wouldn’t be able to eat.”
While Luke is still learning what it means to be a rancher and farmer, he’s quick to point out that he wasn’t always an actor and musician.
“Growing up, I had [blue-collar jobs]—I worked at Sears and I did concrete; growing up, I had to have real jobs,” he reveals. “I didn’t have the luxury of going straight into doing art for a living.”
Because of his early jobs, Luke prides himself on operating with more of a blue-collar approach, in that even though his career may seem glamorous, he doesn’t take it for granted; he shows up and does the work—much like the people he’s highlighting in “Made in Montana.”
“First and foremost, I’m an artist and I want things that I do to ring true; I want them to come from an honest place—to come from my heart, whether it be a song or a character, or a story that we’re telling,” he says. “At the same time, when I’m hired by a director in the studio, it’s a job that I have and I have to approach it like a job—get in there and do my job, and do it well. In a way, I’m like a tradesman. Acting and song are my trades. I constantly work to try to get better and try to be someone [who] does their job well and is nice to work with, good to be around.”
Speaking of work, Luke is fully confident that Yellowstone fans will be satisfied with Season 5 Part Two. “There’s been a lot of talk in the media about what’s going on behind the scenes and I know that’s worried the fans but I’ll just say, go in with an open mind and you won’t be disappointed,” he says. “It’s not different than the way it was supposed to end; [Taylor] had the ending in mind from day one. I didn’t find out until right before we shot it and it’s really beautiful. I think fans will really like it.”
As for whether he’ll appear in one of Taylor’s various Yellowstone universe spin-offs, it’s hard to say. “As of right now, this is it,” he says. “I finished shooting like a month ago and it’s been quite the transition. If Taylor ever came to me and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea about continuing Kayce’s story,’ I would 100 percent do it, but I haven’t heard anything as of right now.”
In the meantime, Luke is simply grateful—for his dual-prong career, his upcoming 10-stop tour (which kicks off November 9), and for all the excitement to come during his favorite time of year.
“The fall is my favorite time of year because it’s hunting season; I like the weather the most in the fall—summer’s great but fall is kind of just like that sweet spot perfect time of year—and my wife and I both love Halloween,” he shares. And this year’s costume might just be their best yet. “We’re going to be parents for Halloween this year,” Luke marvels. “We’ve got a baby on the way so I don’t know for sure that we’ll get to celebrate but this will be our first Halloween as parents, so I imagine we’ll be dressing our child as something very cute.”