Riley Green

Riley Green is a straight-ahead country singer who sings about trucks, beer, and boots, often to a big beat that recalls the boot-scootin' 1990s. He crystallized this attitude on his 2020 EP If It Wasn't for Trucks, but his distinguishing trait was an unapologetic sentimental streak that he showcased on his 2019 breakthrough hit "I Wish Grandpas Never Died," from his debut album, Different 'Round Here. Green continued to balance nostalgia through a series of EPs as well as Ain't My Last Rodeo, the 2023 follow-up to his debut which featured a new version of "Different 'Round Here," now performed as a duet with Luke Combs. A year later, he sent his third album, Don't Mind If I Do, in to the country Top Ten and pop Top 40.

A native of Alabama, Green grew up equally interested in sports and music. The latter he learned from his grandfather, Bufford Green, who ran a music joint while Riley was growing up. After attending Jacksonville State University, Green began pursuing a career in showbiz. In 2013, he released an eponymous EP. The following year, he signed up for the fourth season of Redneck Island, CMT's country spin on Survivor. Redneck Island raised Green's profile, bringing him to a wider audience. He took advantage of these new listeners by releasing the Bury Me in Dixie EP in 2015 and the County Line EP in 2016. The next year brought Outlaws Like Us. In June 2018, Green issued the In a Truck Right Now EP, which included the title track and the hit single "There Was This Girl." Another EP, Get That Man a Beer, appeared in June 2019, followed by his debut album, Different 'Round Here, that September. The record debuted at 11 on Billboard's Country charts and generated the hit ballad "I Wish Grandpas Never Died," which peaked at 12 Country Airplay.

Green opened 2020 with Valley Road, an EP containing acoustic versions of five of his hits, then closed the year with If It Wasn't for Trucks, an EP of five brand-new tunes, including the Randy Owen duet "Better Than Me." Another EP, Behind the Bar, appeared the following year. Early 2022 brought two new releases, the concert album We Out Here: Live along with another EP, There Was This Girl. Green notched another hit in 2023 when he enlisted Luke Combs to assist him on a collaborative version of the title track from his first album. Along with "Raised Up Right" and "Mississippi or Me," the updated version of "Different 'Round Here" anchored his sophomore album, Ain't My Last Rodeo, released in October; it peaked at two on Billboard's Country Airplay charts. Green quickly followed his second album with another EP, releasing Way Out Here in April 2024. It proved to be something of a teaser for his third full-length, Don't Mind If I Do, which came out six months later and featured several of its prominent singles including "Jesus Saves" and "Worst Way." Don't Mind If I Do bore Green's signature mix of feel-good rural party anthems and sentimental fare and it became his highest charting album to date, reaching number eight on the country charts and 25 on the Billboard 200. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine