Riley Green is establishing himself as one of the most popular artists in Country music right now, and he cemented his international appeal when he played in the UK for the first time over the summer.
As a special guest of Morgan Wallen, Green performed at Hyde Park in London as part of BST Hyde Park. Fans are now eager for him to come back to our shores for his own tour but while we patiently wait, Green will release new album “Don't Mind If I Do” on Friday 18th October 2024.
Ahead of the album release, I caught up with Green to talk about his new album, discuss his first time performing in the UK and to find out about his approach to songwriting…
You made your first trip to play in the UK earlier this summer, as a special guest for Morgan Wallen at BST Hyde Park. What was your experience like?
For starters, I think I got spoiled with my first trip out there being Hyde Park in front of 50,000 people. It was a short trip and didn’t get to do as much exploring and looking around as I'd have liked to, but as far as the show goes, man it was awesome. The crowd knew every word to every song I played, which being that far from home was a pretty cool thing for me to see. It definitely made me want to get back over there and do a tour.
Were you aware of the level of buzz there was for you here in the UK?
I had no idea that it was like that before I went. I've been surprised in a good way (with) a lot of the places I've been to over the last few years for the first time. Canada was like that to me, I didn't know that I had that many fans up there. All of my tours in Canada have done really well. I was really surprised at the turnout and the fan base that really seemed to know my stuff when I got there, but the buzz after I've definitely felt. I've seen streaming numbers and comments on everything I posted about (asking) when am I coming back to the UK. We're really looking forward to coming back over there and doing a tour.
The outrage from fans when the C2C line-up was announced for 2025 and you weren’t on it was quite something. You’ve just announced your ‘Damn Country Music’ headline US tour. Will you be bringing that to the UK?
Definitely. I don't know the exact dates yet but we're gonna announce more dates for the ‘Damn Country Music’ tour and I know we're gonna come over to the UK at some point next year. I know we got plans to.
The announcement video for the ‘Damn Country Music’ tour was pretty epic. That looked like a lot of fun to do…
It was fun. A lot of the video days that we have are not the most fun and they’re not my favourite thing to do but that was so cool being able to tip the cap to ‘Smokey & The Bandits’. The idea came from my manager Daniel and I think it just came because me and Ella (Langley) looked so much like the characters in the film. I thought that was a pretty unique way to announce the tour. Definitely got a lot of buzz around town from it so it was a great idea and I think it turned out really nice.
Speaking of Ella, she’s on the title track of the new album “Don’t Mind If I Do”. This is your second collaboration musically. What is it about the two of you working together that always results in magic?
I think it's probably just that we grew up in really much the same area. She's from Alabama as well. I've always liked her voice. I think we grew up on a lot more traditional Country music. I remember seeing a video of her singing ‘Silver Wings’ by Merle Haggard on social media somewhere and I thought her voice was just so great. Maybe it's the twang that we both have that makes us sing well together, but whatever it is, like you said, it's really working. It’s always cool when something that happens really organically like that, turns out to be something that people enjoy. ‘you look like you love me’ is such a big hit. I had no idea it was going to be that big of a song. Now she's on the title track of my album, “Don't Mind If I Do”, which is a song I wrote that's completely different. It's nice that we have two very different songs stylistically that are doing so well.
The two of you together feels a bit Dolly and Porter. Can we expect a duets album in the future?
We’ve certainly accidentally had two really big songs together, so I don't really know how we couldn't have more. ‘you like you love me’ just came from her being on tour with me and “Don't Mind If I Do”, I'd written while she was on tour with me and I just had her come by the studio and sing on it, to hear a female vocal on it. She did such a great job so I was like ‘well, there you go’. Her going on tour with me next year is probably gonna lead to some more collaborations and some more songs, I would think.
“Don’t Mind If I Do” is only the tip of the iceberg with this album. There's so much depth there in the writing and so many different themes such as identity, America, society, love, romance and life. Tell me a little bit about crafting these songs because over the 18 songs you cover a lot of ground…
Well, I think that that's what I've been trying to do lately with my albums, is trying to make a full project of what I think. When you record an EP or you record a single, you're really looking at it for just this song or that song. When you get to do a full album like this, of this many songs, you really try to do a little bit of everything. That's what I think this album has, is a lot of different types of songs, which I think it's great.
‘Jesus Saves’ is the song I keep coming back to. I know it was on your EP earlier this year but what’s the story behind it?
It was inspired by somebody I saw on the side of the road in Nashville, Tennessee. I think that we're always quick to think the worst when we see somebody in that situation, like maybe they're on drugs or alcohol or whatever it is. I just thought about real life things that can happen to you, that might make somebody a little more compassionate. Something that maybe if a few things didn't go right in your life, you might be in the same situation. They're tough situations and problems you can have in life that could really happen to anybody. I thought the message was great and the song turned out great and it's one of those that I think really makes you feel something which is always the kind of songs I want to write.
There’s some good play wordplay on this record too with songs like ‘Alcohall of Fame’ and ‘Too Early To Drink’. What’s your approach to writing lyrics?
Well, (those are) two songs with a drinking theme title but very different songs. ‘Alcohall Of Fame’ is one of those titles that I came across and I couldn't figure out how somebody hadn't already written that. It sounded like it should have been a song a long time ago. I'm constantly writing, constantly looking for new ideas and titles and new inspiration. When you get ready to record an album, you want to just take all those pieces of songs that you've written and figure out where they need to live at, and this is one where I get to bring a lot of older songs back. ‘Alcohall of Fame’ is something I wrote a couple of years ago and I've got some brand-new songs on there, so it's really a lot of different types of stuff.
I want to thank you for honouring the album. So few artists are doing it these days with albums only lasting 8 tracks and less than 30 minutes. You have 18 songs on the record, and there’s no filler. What was your approach in terms of sequencing the record and ensuring it was cohesive?
Well, I grew up with CDs. I still remember listening to one from top to bottom and I think some people are still like that. I definitely put a lot of thought into the track listing and letting it feel like a full project. It was an experience for me to go buy a CD when I was a kid and listen to it, riding in the truck or whatever.
You recently opened your new bar, Riley Green’s Duck Blind Bar, in Midtown, Nashville. Why did you decide to do that?
Next time you come (to Nashville), you’ll have to stop by. When I first got to Nashville I started going over to ‘Winners and Losers’ bar and that's where I met every artist that I know – every songwriter that I've met, everybody in the music industry that I've got a relationship now – happened in that building. When me and Steve Ford, who's my partner in this and the owner of ‘Winners and Losers’, came up with this idea, I was just so excited because it's not a Broadway bar. It’s in Midtown. It's where the locals hang out and it's where I heard a lot of my favourite artists and songwriters play. That's how I found out who I wanted to write with, (by) getting up there and telling stories about songs. I hope that maybe there's some guys that come up into town and they do it the same way I did, and go in there and maybe they'd get a chance to get up and play and tell their story and have a music career.
It's a savvy move to have the bar in Midtown as Broadway is already so packed. Midtown is a bit quieter and less competitive, was that a factor in your decision in terms of location?
Yeah, definitely. I think the biggest thing for me was I wanted to be real. I don't hang out on Broadway. I really don't know anybody that does as far as like other artists, and that's where all the bars are that everybody has their name on. I thought that it makes sense for me to be somewhere that I actually hang out at. When it was ‘Winners and Losers’, I was there, and now it’s got my name on it, I still like hanging out there.
You’ve got a packed schedule ahead with the album release and the tour but is there anything else you’re going to be fitting in?
I'm sure I'll get in the woods a little bit when it cools off. I love hunting and being outdoors, so I'm sure I'll find a little bit of time to get out there, but man, we've been busy. We've been busy for the last six or eight years, but it's going really well. People are finding our music, coming to shows and buying tickets, and streaming our songs. That probably more than anything motivated me to really try to get out there and get in front of as many of them as I can. My first trip to the UK was (playing at) Hyde Park in front of 50,000 people, which just made me want to go back.
We're going to continue to play a bunch of shows and I'm constantly trying to write songs. As a songwriter, there's nothing more motivating than your biggest songs being some of the most recent ones because songwriting to some people feels like such a lightning in a bottle kind of thing where you can accidentally stumble along this song and it’s big. For me, my first really big hit was ‘Grandpas Never Really Die’, and I wrote that several years ago, so to be writing songs are still connecting with fans the way they are, and on a bigger scale even, is something that really makes me wanna go try and write every day.
Christmas is just around the corner. What does a Riley Green family Christmas look like?
I've got a big family. They all live really close together in northeast Alabama, where my farm is, and we all get together at my grandparents’ house and have a big dinner and take a nap, open the presents and then eat again and do it all over again at the other grandmother's house. It's just a really good chance for everybody to get together and probably more important for me now than ever as I get so much inspiration from that place. That’s where I grew up and that's what I have the most in common with and it seems to be how a lot of people grew up. I try when I'm home to be constantly thinking about things that could, spark some thought that maybe becomes a song.
Have you ever thought about making Christmas music?
I really like Christmas music. I listen to it even when it's not Christmas at times. I don't know that I could do it justice. My favourite Christmas songs, even ‘Christmas in Dixie’ by Alabama, I could never sing as good as Randy Owen did, so it's hard for me to go try to redo that. But maybe there's a Christmas song in me somewhere. Maybe I'll I start thinking about it a little more and try to try to write a Christmas song. It seems like Christmas music, the older songs are the best ones and nobody's really outdone anything yet, so it's hard to do for some reason, for people to be able to channel that and out-write some of the classics. Maybe I got something, we'll see.
Add it to your list of things to discuss with Ella on tour next year. You two would create a banger…
If me and Ella write a Christmas song, I think that’ll do well (laughs).
Riley Green's new album “Don't Mind If I Do” is released on Friday 18th October 2024.
