You’d be hard pressed to find someone in the world of country music who doesn’t know the name Riley Green. Tracks like ‘There Was This Girl’ and ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died’, from his 2019 album, ‘Different’ ‘Round Here’, saw Green rise to fame. Collaborating with established artists like Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and now Luke Bryan, Green sits comfortably in an and amongst those household names.

Specialising in songs that tug on the heartstrings, Green showcases some new ones of that same ilk on his new album, ‘Don’t Mind If I Do’, featuring the title track with Ella Langley. The pair also share the hit song ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ which has been streamed globally over 120 million times since its release back in June.

Joining us from the side of a lake somewhere in Virginia, Riley Green chatted to Building Our Own Nashville about his new album, ‘Don’t Mind If I Do’, what he’d say to his younger self and which artists he’s got his eye on at the moment.

The new album is out on the 18th which is also your birthday! What’s that day going to look like for you?

I’m actually at Indio, California at a show on my birthday so it’ll be a workday. Might have to celebrate it maybe on the next weekend but we’ll definitely have something cold to drink that night and probably play some new songs off the album.

On your birthday, how early is too early for a beer?

Good point. I don’t think there is a too early on my birthday.

From your new album, what was the hardest song to write?

Maybe the hardest one to write was ‘Worst Way’, just because I don’t write a lot of love songs. I would say, ‘Jesus Saves’, but that song seemed pretty easy for me to write, that’s kind of where I live in that ballady-type story-type song. I love writing those songs. When I wrote ‘Worst Way’, I really was just looking for something that I thought would fill that love song void in my set, you know, you can’t just have people crying the whole time. And being a solo write, you don’t have someone to bounce things off of. And you know, oddly enough, that song has become a really big hit for me. It’s definitely a fun song to play at shows too, it’s a very different thing to most of my songs so it’s nice to have something different and this album as a whole has a lot of different types of songs on it.

Yeah definitely, it’s a journey going on that album – what was the thinking behind the arrangement of the songs?

I grew up listening to CDs – we’d go buy a CD and it was an experience to start it on number 1 and listen to it all the way through. I don’t know that a lot people do that anymore, but I still like to try and set up my track list as if they do. I like to start people off in an easy listening type place and a lot of times, when somebody starts a CD, it’s like starting a set – you have everybody’s attention lyrically. And then some of those songs that are a little more, roll the window down and turn it up vibey songs along in the middle of it and then bring them back to a place where they’re having to listen again at the end has always been what my thought process has been.

Was there any song on there that was non-negotiable, don’t care what anyone says, it’s going on the album?

Well ‘Mistake’ was one like that. I didn’t write that but I thought it was such a cool song. It was such a vibe type song, it felt good. One I wrote that was like that was ‘Change My Mind’. I just thought it was a really cool feeling I got when it came on. It doesn’t sound as much like some of the stuff I’ve written in the past, it is a different vibe. It was an easy listen for me and a fun song and I love the lyrics. As soon as I wrote it, I was going to record it.

What song off the album is your favourite to play or do you think will be your favourite to play to crowds?

I haven’t played a lot of them yet. ‘Change My Mind’ will be one I’m really excited about playing. ‘Don’t Mind if I Do’ I really enjoy playing live, it’s one of my favourite songs off the album obviously being the title track. It’s worked out great that Ella – we’ve got that other giant song. So we’ve got two songs to play when she’s at shows with me.

Is she on tour with you at the minute?

She was on tour with me at the beginning of the year, but that tour ended. Oddly enough she’s on a lot of shows with me – matter of fact she’s opening for me tonight and tomorrow night. She’s gonna be out on tour with me next year so we’ll have two really big songs to play together which is nice.

I saw that ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ has 120 million global streams?

It’s a lot in a short period of time. It’s a really big song and I don’t think anybody knew it was going to be that type of a hit.

Can you say ‘excuse me’ now without finishing the song?

I think everybody’s having that problem. It’s certainly a song that stays in your head. I think that’s kind of what you’re shooting for.

I watched your Cowboy Code YouTube videos that you did with Polaris and saw the Gold Saw Music Hall and the Back 40 – what would you say to the baby Riley Green that was there watching the music?

I would certainly tell him to put more time into playing guitar and writing songs than playing sports because I think at that time that’s probably what I thought I’d do. I was a lot more into sports – I played football, baseball and basketball as a kid, and I played a little football in college. I didn’t think I was really musically inclined. My sister Lindy was a really good singer. I didn’t like to sing in front of people. I kind of played guitar a little bit as a hobby. I think probably until I was in my mid-twenties it was just that, just a side hobby for me, even when I was playing out in bars I didn’t think much would come from it so I’d definitely tell him to put a little more thought into it.

I love the concept of lifting as you climb and you have obviously been out with Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs and now you’re on an elevation that holds weight. Is there anyone that you’re looking at thinking, I want to provide a platform for you because I think you’ve got something good?

Yeah I mean, I’ve always felt that way about Ella, and all the openers on my tour that we just announced – the ‘Damn Country Music Tour’ – are just, you know, guys and girls that I’m really a fan of and I think that the more people that hear them, the more people are gonna like them, especially people who like my music are going to like Drake White’s music or Jake Worthington’s music or Wyatt McCubbin, you know, all these people I just enjoy being around and enjoy the show they put on so I think that it’s great to be able to headline your own tour and take some of these folks out.

That must be a great feeling that doors have been opened for you and now you’re in a position to be able to do that for other people.

Yeah, that’s how I feel about getting Luke Bryan to be on a song with me, you know, I hope that people like him and he gets a chance…

It’s nice to help the little people! What was that like singing with Luke Bryan? He seems like a really good time.

He’s great man I went on tour with Luke a couple of years ago. I’ve noticed that the people who have really long careers in country music – it’s not a coincidence. They’re hard workers and good folks and everybody likes them and Luke’s one of those guys.

Your first EP came out in 2018 – what do you think you’ve learnt from then that you’re putting into this new album?

Well, it’s certainly helped me a lot to put out an album as opposed to an EP. Because if you’ve got three or four songs, you go cut them and that’s kind of what it is. When you put out a full album you can look at it like, this is the type of songs I want on here, this is the overall message, what song is missing, the type of song I need. I feel like having a lot of different types of music that is also still me is kind of what makes a great album.

Your song ‘I Wish Grandpa’s Never Died’ – I read that you never meant to record that and now it’s 3x platinum?

Yeah, I wrote that after my Grandad Lendon passed away – I was really close with both my Grandaddys as a kid – so I just wrote it as a tribute to them. I already had a single on country radio and I didn’t know it was going to be a hit. I think I got drunk in Georgia at a show and played it one night and everybody went crazy about it and a video from somebody’s phone got on YouTube got a couple million views and I called the label and was like ‘I think we might need to record this’. Those songs are the ones that always seem to do the best for me, the ones that have some personal importance for me they’re certainly the ones I like to write and the easiest ones for me write.

That’s the epitome of country music isn’t the personal, the authenticity.

I think so.

‘Don’t Mind If I Do’ is available to stream and download now. Check out Riley Green’s tour dates and upcoming shows through his website here.