Riley Green Stays Close To Home On 'That’s Just Me' [Interview]

For years, Riley Green has built his career one venue at a time. And while that hasn’t changed…

While his rise to international fame might seem like an overnight success to newfound fans of tracks such as “Different ‘Round Here,” “Worst Way,” “Don’t Mind If I Do,” and his award-winning collaboration with Ella Langley, “You Look Like You Love Me,” Green had a very different experience.

“We played all over the place in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi for years,” Green tells MusicRow . “And I have a lot of those fans that knew me early on to thank for even signing a record deal, but it's definitely reached a place that I never thought it would.”

It’s at these new heights that Green is releasing his latest album, That’s Just Me . With more people discovering his music than ever before, Green isn’t looking to change what he does. He views his wider reach as an opportunity to introduce that same sound to an even larger group.

“I'm definitely reaching a much bigger audience now between acting [on Marshals ] and being a coach on The Voice . To me, those are opportunities to get in front of people that might not be country music fans,” Green explains. “The new album speaks to fans that have known me from the beginning because, even though I'm doing a lot of other things now, I'm still writing from the same place and trying to continue to do what got me here.”

That mindset guides his songwriting as well. Across his five solo-penned tracks on the album, Green’s sincerity and straightforwardness remain at the core of his penmanship.

"There's a simplicity to how I say things. I think that's what's helped me be successful because a lot of my songs are relatable,” says Green. “I write about where I grew up and a lot of people think, ‘I grew up the same way.' So, where some songwriters can get a little bit too ‘songwriter-y’, for lack of a better term, I think there's a simplicity to country music and how you can tell a story that appeals to a lot of people."

Between filming The Voice and being out on the road, Green finds it harder than ever to set up scheduled writes with other songwriters, which leads to him writing during his time off in his home state of Alabama.

“Sometimes it's just wherever [inspiration] strikes me—which is usually when I'm on my farm in Alabama. If it's something I'm passionate about or I think I've got figured out that day, I just write it.”

Even as his platform grows, Green says broadening what he writes is about just to appeal to a larger audience would be a mistake. Instead, he looks for artistic growth elsewhere.

“I think that the only thing I could do to hurt myself in my career is change who I am,” Green shares. “Musically, I try to push myself and find melodies that are a bit unique, or maybe I look to co-writers that have helped me find a melody that I wouldn't come up with.”

That philosophy carries into the album’s collaborations. Green uses the project to both highlight artists coming up behind him and nod to the people that shaped him, tapping Hannah McFarland and Jake Worthington alongside Brooks & Dunn and Alabama’s Randy Owen .

“I feel like my job with the spotlight that I've got now, and being blessed with the opportunities I've got, is to do a couple of things,” he says. “One of them is to help out people that are where I was and that I'm a fan of and bring them into some of these opportunities. And then also shed a little bit of light on the inspiration that I got from guys like Brooks & Dunn and Randy Owen and keep showing the younger generation the music that inspired me to write and record and perform.”

While some of the collaborations happened naturally, some surprised Green altogether. He originally sent “Lookout Mountain” to Owen simply because he wanted him to hear the track.

“I sent Randy ‘Lookout Mountain’ not thinking he would be a part of the song. I just wanted him to hear it, and he texted me and said, ‘Do you need a partner on that one?’," recalls Green. “I texted Ronnie Dunn ‘Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads’ and he said, ‘I can sing it on Monday.’ So I was surprised at how easily all that stuff came together. It doesn't always work out that way.”

Taken as a whole, the name That’s Just Me becomes the perfect title. The project captures Green’s influences, the steadfastness of his form, and the artists he wants to champion moving forward. Rather than change his tune for a new wave of fans, Green doubles down on the people and places that got him here.