Q&A: Dani Rose Dishes On Her Latest ‘Yellowstone’ Placement, Finding Creative Freedom, & More

Dani Rose has been carving out her own space in country music, blending heartfelt storytelling with a sound that pulls from both country and pop/rock influences. Originally from Virginia and now based in Nashville, Dani has landed song placements on shows like Fire Country, Yellowstone, Roswell, and Monarch, and even in NFL commercials. 

Her viral hit “Got It From My Mama” struck a chord with listeners around the world, earning over 1.3 billion views on TikTok and leading to a bilingual version with Latin Grammy winner Chiquis. She’s performed at major festivals like Stagecoach and CMA Fest, and her music has been featured on shows like Fire Country, True Blood, Monarch, and more. 

With her latest song “I Ain’t Livin” featured in Yellowstone, Dani is continuing to connect with fans through honest lyrics and a sound that’s uniquely her own. We caught up with her to talk about her musical journey, her writing process, and what it means to have her songs land in such iconic shows.

“I Ain’t Livin” will be your 5th placement on Yellowstone. Congratulations! Do you remember the first time you found out that one of your songs would be featured on the show? Walk us through that moment.

I do. At the time, because it was season two of Yellowstone and nobody knew how big the show was going to be yet, we just knew that it was a cool show and I started to get into it. Obviously, I was watching not only because I’m a fan but also because I knew that I was going to have two songs in season two. So that was a really big deal for me to have two songs on any TV show, let alone it be Yellowstone. And when I told people about it, they were like, ‘oh, that’s cool. We’ve kind of heard of that new show with Kevin Costner. Good job, but we’ll see how it is.’ It didn’t start to really pick up until I would say season three and that’s when people were like, ‘whoa. It’s a huge deal to have music on the show.’  I was already excited because I felt like it was going to be a big show. We just didn’t know how big and here we are years later, looking back at that moment in particular was just kind of like, ‘I have two songs on a cool Western TV show.’ I’m honored, but I didn’t know how big that was going to be for my career. 

Was there a moment when it really sunk in and you thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be something huge?’

That was season three. When I had a third song on season three, that was a really big deal because by that point the show had already started to be big. And when I was saying, ‘yeah guys, this is my third song on the TV show,’ everyone just kind of looked at me like ‘this is a really cool thing.’ This is something that sets me apart.  I don’t say it in a way of like, ‘I’m so great.’ I say it in a way of there’s only so many spots that you can have. Just like there’s only so many times somebody gets to sing the national anthem for NFL games. There’s only a certain number of games, there’s only a certain number of slots that you can have your music on the show and to be one of those artists in one of those positions, I’m so grateful to Taylor Sheridan, to Andrea von Foerster, to Sabrina Del Priore, to Megan Soliah. 

But I guess it was just kind of like ‘this is something that you’re now going to be a part of,’ and as an independent female country artist to have that many songs on a hit TV show and just be doing it essentially on my own, it feels really cool. It feels very empowering. Feels like this is something that I should be telling a story about because there’s artists that think that you can’t do something without a label or a massive team, but you actually really can if you hustle hard enough and you put in the work and you put in the networking and you put in the time and the effort and you write songs that are real. Because none of the songs that I’ve written were for the TV show. They’re always real songs that end up in the TV show. But I think it’s important for people to know that I’m not with a label. That doesn’t mean I’m not looking to be with one. It’s just that’s how the cards felt for me. I was able to do this by myself. There was no sync licensing company pitching me. One, I got lucky meeting the supervisor at a birthday party one year, many years ago, and two, I was genuine and she liked my music and so she put it in the show. 

What was the writing process like for this song? Did you write it with the intention of a potential sync placement? How was it collaborating with writers like Jessi Alexander and Brent Cobb? 

Brent and Jessi, I mean, Jessi’s an incredible writer and so is Brent. These are both hit songwriters so just to be in the room was like, ‘I have to take a shot of whiskey before to be like, be cool man, be cool.’ When we were writing this, we were at a writing camp for the show, but the reason why I guess I was in the room with so many of the other people was just because everyone was really writing because they were like, ‘oh, let’s write to a special scene.’ And I was like, ‘that’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works. We need to write a real song, and if we write a real one, not based off of any scene, then I think it’ll work for the show because we’re writing something real and honest and truthful.’ And that’s exactly what happened. For this song in particular, we were just all talking about music. And again, I think it’s a cool path to be able to sing it with Brent.

So for this song in particular, when me, Jessi and Brent were getting together writing this, we talked about the life of music and how hard it is. It’s just this roller coaster of like, you do it and you do it, and you’re at the high highs, and then immediately you’re at the low lows. And if you don’t almost die and really kill yourself, then you’re not really living it. You have to be so passionate. You have to completely submit yourself and sacrifice a lot to do music. And that’s what this song is all about.

I mean, it’s morbid to say it like this, but for me it’s music or death. And I don’t want to be morbid about it. It’s just like if I can’t do music, I can’t do anything.

When you were at Bosque Ranch in Texas, Taylor Sheridan introduced you by saying: “I’ve got a pretty good knack for finding the next big star…Miss Dani Rose, and I think you’ll really like her.” How does it feel knowing that Taylor thinks of you in this way?

I almost died when he made that introduction because we talk, but he’ll never say anything like that to me. It was like a sponsor dinner where he did it. And when he did that, I literally thought I was going to die. I was like, ‘how am I supposed to sing after knowing that? How can I follow up that introduction?’ I don’t know, I was beaming. I felt really special. I felt really proud. Again, really honored and grateful to be part of the family and to just be a part of the team and to be a part of the Taylor verse.

Who were your musical inspirations growing up and how do you feel they have impacted your personal sound today?

I always loved, loved, loved Shania Twain. She was just so fun and charismatic and sassy, and I loved her. I also loved Tim McGraw. Few people. I think “Where the Green Grass Grows” was on repeat for months at a time and my mom was like, ‘when are you going to get tired of that song?’ I was like, ‘mom, but I love this song so much.’ She’s like, ‘something’s wrong with you.’ 

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You were born in Virginia but then moved to Tokyo and traveled through Southeast Asia from 5th to 9th grade. Do you feel that seeing different places of the world at such a young age benefited you as a songwriter?

Definitely. I mean, songwriting is all about experience. I became a little mini adult in fifth grade, I would say, because I was taking the subway by myself. Which is crazy to think about. Like think about a fifth grader here taking the subway…no, that doesn’t even happen. That would never happen. One, it’s too unsafe. And two, you’re never given that kind of responsibility and autonomy. But I do think that I grew up really fast and I was just immersed in different cultures very quickly, and it made me this worldly kid that was just kind of different from all the other kids, just because I was around so many different cultures and so many different people. So I learned, I guess, how to just accept other cultures and be around many other different people. The crazy thing about traveling and learning all these other cultures is that you can’t be anything but yourself. And I kind of learned that when I came back in high school. We were in Tokyo, so we were at this school where I only had 30 kids in my grade, but a lot of them were ambassador’s kids. We had people from Norway, people from Germany, people from Korea, people from Britain, Sweden, all different walks of life. When I came back to Virginia and I went to high school to my public school in Chantilly High, it was really, really tough because I was so friendly and the only thing that I could be was me. And that’s how we acted in school. We didn’t have cliques, we weren’t able to, because one, we were such a small class. But two, everyone was just so different. Everybody was so nice to each other. Moving back to Virginia was just this culture shock of American culture and I had to go back into learning how to not really be myself. Nobody wanted to show their individuality in high school, I don’t know if you can relate to that. We had to be one thing. You were ‘this.’ In order to be cool in high school, you had to be super pretty. You had to talk this way, you had to look a certain way. You had to do your hair a certain way. There were no differences and that was something that I learned to find beautiful living overseas. That’s something that I think really helped shape my formative years, especially coming back to the states to finish off high school. I don’t know how you talk about that in an interview or how you word that, but that’s how I felt. I felt different because I was very much myself and complacent and happy with myself. I was this little adult and I didn’t feel like anybody else had really matured to that level yet because they weren’t as independent as I was. I had to be because I had no choice but to be independent in Tokyo and Southeast Asia and that was something that I really struggled with in high school. That was a long story. I’m so sorry.

In addition to Yellowstone, you’ve had sync placements on the shows Fire Country, True Blood, Nashville, Roswell, and Monarch. Is there a certain project that has been your favorite to work on?

So again, I never write the songs for the TV shows. I just write the songs and then the supervisors or whoever, they reach out and they’re like, ‘what do you have?’ And then they listen and they’re like, ‘oh, I think this would be good for this scene.’ So I actually, my favorite thing to have been a part of, the two shows that I’ve loved… I mean I’ve loved every one, don’t get me wrong. It’s been so cool. But I would say Fire Country and Yellowstone have obviously been the two most fun.

For Fire Country, there’s a scene where they used a duet that I have with Jonah Prill. It’s this scene where Gabriela and this other guy, the main character, are dancing together and it’s like a sexy scene. But it’s really cool. The music is so loud and they’re dancing and it was really awesome to just hear the song, be there, and be present. The difference between Fire Country is it’s on CBS, but it’s more like a CW drama. It’s really fun. Then Yellowstone is like a soap opera for dudes. It’s very drama, drama, drama. Then Fire Country’s fun and it’s got more lighthearted moments, whereas Yellowstone is like death and destruction.

You and Brent sound incredible together—what was it like teaming up with him on this song? Do you think you’ll collaborate again down the line?

He is awesome, and yes, we definitely will write together in the future. We had so much fun filming everything. Brent is so talented and when he was singing in the studio, everyone was just kind of like ‘woah.’

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After this release, what’s next for you in terms of new music or touring?

I’m working on another single right now. It’s called “Girl Math” and I am really excited about it, but I’m also wondering if I want to open it up for collaboration. Because it’s “Girl Math,” I want to have a bunch of girls on it and be singing about it because I think that would be really cool so I’m kind of toying with that idea.

What sparked the idea behind your new song “Girl Math” and what can fans expect from the song in terms of its vibe or message?

You can’t explain girl math unless you’re a girl. You won’t understand girl math unless you’re a female. So I’ll just leave it to that.

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You perform a lot of national anthems. How do you prepare for these performances, and how do you handle the pressure of delivering such a significant song each time?

 I’ve been singing the Anthem for so long that it’s just muscle memory and I absolutely love it! It’s probably my favorite song to sing, which is so crazy.

I love it because it’s obviously our national anthem so I’m singing about America, we love the USA! And it’s such a pure song and I love to sing it in a pure way. I don’t like to put any frills in it. It’s just very like, ‘this is what it is.’ I literally just sang one in LA for the IRON rodeo, which was cool. I was with a bunch of people from Yellowstone and 1923 so a lot of the actors were there. I was there with Danielle Vasinova. She’s one of the actors on 1923. She’s got like 7.3 million followers. How is that possible? She’s really cool. I was there with some of the casting people from Fire Country, so it was just a lot of the Western Rodeo people, which was awesome. I was there with Sabina as well. She’s Tyler Rich’s wife. She’s on Fire Country. But yeah, just sang at that rodeo. I’ve sung for NFL Games for the Titans, for the Rams. Then obviously opening weekend, I usually sing for Dodger Stadium. I’m not going to do it this year. I’m going to let somebody else do it, but it’s really fun. The way I prepare is I just sing it a million times, but I definitely get nervous singing it. 

You’re opening for Tim McGraw at the first-ever concert at the Field of Dreams—such an incredible opportunity! What does it mean to you to be part of this special event, and how does it feel to share the stage with someone like Tim McGraw?

“Field of Dreams” is a really special movie. There’s a quote that I’ve always really lived, honestly, my life around. It’s ‘if you build it, they will come’ and that’s specific to music. As you know being in the music industry, especially here in Nashville, people don’t like it when you knock on doors. I don’t agree with that because I reward anybody that comes to me and says, ‘hey, I need help with this’ or ‘hey, what do you think about this?’ Or wants to work together. I think that’s a really important skill- to be able to advocate for yourself. I do think that Nashville’s changing in that way a little bit, but I want to reward the hustlers. I love the quote, ‘if you build it, they will come’ because it’s so freaking true. Get five songs in Yellowstone, people are going to come to you and say, ‘hey, we want to be a part of this.’ Do something great. I think taking that quote specifically, because it’s from Field of Dreams and just kind of having this full circle moment of I’ve been building it and now I get asked to, because I didn’t ask to sing at this. Somebody reached out and said, we want to have her there. So just to be able to have that, it’s like they saw me build it, and now I get to go do the thing. I’m just, again, very grateful to be able to still do this for a living. This is my job and this is what I want to do forever.

Do you have any particular goals for 2025?

Keep releasing great music. Play as many festivals as I possibly can because they’re so much fun. And yeah, win a Grammy. That’s not going to happen this year, but it can happen for next year.

Fans can keep up with Dani Rose on Instagram.