- 6/12/2025
Riley Green joins Katie Neal at our new studios at the Hard Rock in the heart of Nashville.
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MusicTranscript
00:00back to keep us company with his mustache riley green it's coming back it's coming back we can
00:06relax oh my god did you have any idea that the commotion that that would cause i thought people
00:11might mention it you know not that it would be like every head no it was like these people have
00:15nothing to talk about but it was nice you know that day i walked in the bar and nobody knew who
00:19i was like i was about 14 you know when i shaved it off that's wild but i knew it i mean it was
00:25been a week it'll be back next week i was thinking about i was like i don't think anybody's been this
00:29upset about something since morgan shaved off his mullet yeah man it's a it's a crazy time why why
00:35did you want to do you just like felt like so i shave every year just to get a little sun on my face
00:39yeah it starts to get hot it just feels nice for a little change and i didn't realize that i'm like
00:43mustache guy now so like people expect a certain level of mustache from me right and when i shaved
00:49it really it hurts some people's feelings seriously i was talking to a bunch of the guys at acms just
00:54about because i feel like i had never seen so many mustaches as i saw at ac i was like oh wow
00:59they're out there everyone's got one yeah which i think is really fun like yeah it's a it's a unique
01:04time in the world you know for sure for sure worst way headed up the charts right now talk about this
01:10song because it's one of the four on the album that you wrote by yourself yeah just talk about the
01:14story behind this well you know i don't tend to write a lot of love songs i'm always kind of the
01:18ballady like i wish grandpa's never died more sad song guy and so you know people don't want to just
01:24cry the whole concert i thought i should kind of try something else and uh worst way ended up being a
01:29really forward love song you know and and you know when you write songs like that by yourself
01:33you're not bouncing ideas off anybody so when you get done with you're like wait is this okay
01:38i was gonna say because this is like it's such a like sexy sultry song which like might have been
01:42harder to write right in a room for me it was yeah i mean it was just that's not where i live at
01:47musically usually so it was a little outside of my comfort zone and when i got done with it i thought
01:52there was something cool about it and uh i think i like most songs i played a little bit of it and
01:59posted it on facebook or instagram or something and it blew up and you know that's how you know
02:03when fans kind of let you know you have something and i i think it went platinum you know before we
02:10even sent the radio it was just this huge song so when fans go and make a song hit like that it's
02:14always so much fun you kind of sit back and just enjoy playing it you know it's it's become one of
02:19the biggest moments in my live show that is so and it's cool that it's a song that's like a slower
02:24song to have a moment like that yeah i think when i write a lot of times i'm thinking about
02:29my live show i think about what you know when i first started playing shows i was playing covers
02:34and when i started writing it was to replace those songs yeah with originals so i thought man i've
02:38always i loved air church wrecking ball and i'm ready to cover that and that type of song i thought
02:43where could i write something that kind of replaces that my set and that was one of those things i thought
02:48i could like to have that kind of like steamy moment in the show and it's certainly done that
02:51and then the music video obviously a lot of buzz around that how much input did you have in this
02:57or like how much of it was like pitched to you this is a uh just what they can do with computers
03:02now it's crazy i i did so i think i got sent a treatment and it was really like right at it you
03:10know it was very like and i i said there's got to be something about this is a little funny like a
03:14little comedic relief and uh the movie bull durham was one of my favorite kevin costner movies years ago
03:20had a huge crush on susan sarandon and there's a scene where they're sitting in the kitchen i think
03:24he's smoking a joint he's got on her bathrobe and they're eating cereal and i was like that's where
03:29that's the vibe i wanted you know so you know the throw in the wine and throw in the roads is kind of
03:33cheesy looking at camera thing it was like a old spice commercial you know yeah and it ended up being
03:38a lot of fun it's not it's not really comfortable to shoot a music video like that but uh it ended up
03:44being a lot of fun i mean on top of like all of the like intimacy stuff that they have to coordinate
03:48then you're also like throwing stuff like breaking stuff i was thinking about like what the bloopers
03:54of this were like like how many times did you have to break stuff and they would have to reset it i
03:58know we broke a picture of a dog it was like carl kind of dog and we only had two of those you know
04:04the glass was like a certain kind of glass and then we had to bust through some plow uh sheetrock on the
04:08wall so i think we only had like two setups of that uh yeah it might anytime you like pulled the
04:15the uh thing off of the table and salad lettuce goes everywhere they had to pick all that back
04:20up put it in the bowl do it again so you wanted to get it right the first time you know i know i'm
04:23sure it was hard to like watch all the i was really proud that my cereal throw into the sink was the
04:28first one take oh was it i wondered about that because every time you i when i watched it i'm
04:32like oh it's gonna break but then it bounces like splashed up and i just didn't even look it was
04:36awesome i was really proud of that that's awesome and then i figured when i saw that i was like
04:41there's no i bet that they pitched him like let's do this really serious and i was like there's no
04:44way i couldn't do it how could you do it i'll be honest with you i've read the first treatment they
04:48sent me and it made me like turn red you know like i want to crawl under the table just reading it so
04:52like yeah we got to figure something else out and then i saw wasn't there a video that like they
04:56showed the old woman in the video how the video turned out how great was she that might be my
05:01favorite part is that all the reactions in the restaurant and she was so great oh my god that really
05:05was that was hilarious um this will be as the song is going up the charts this will be number one
05:10number five right for you that sounds great i don't know got to check the tapes yeah but i was
05:17thinking about first number one for you was there was this girl right there was this girl i had one
05:21with thomas red on uh half of me different around here i always like to ask people because i feel like
05:27as you're starting out your career you're kind of like a starving artist for a long time like people
05:32you're very famous but like people don't realize you're not making a lot of money just playing shows
05:36and touring so when you get your first number one paycheck usually everybody's got something that they
05:40went out and bought that like was kind of memorable did you do that i bought my mom a car you did yeah
05:46i i've always had vehicles i buy cars all the time it's kind of my little hobby so uh what was cool
05:52about it was i've never been as excited buying a car as it was buying her one you know or like buying
05:57my dad a truck or something like i always i enjoy that and they're they're they've never lived above
06:02their means you know it's like my dad's never had a nice truck and i just i mean as soon as i bought
06:06him one he backed it into something and uh but but they appreciated it yeah yeah i'm sure wait so
06:13like cars become like kind of a hobby for you like is this working on cars or just having no i don't
06:18really have any mechanical knowledge we did carpentry work growing up so we we didn't really know much
06:22about it but i've always enjoyed old cars and uh my hobby was buying them when i was on the road i'd
06:29get on facebook marketplace or craigslist and go buy these old junky cars and fix them like your tour
06:34manager would love that like oh how are we gonna get this car oh yeah i bought a chrysler lebaron
06:37on my first major tour i was out with uh brad paisley uh three thousand dollars i bought it from
06:42a guy in a nursing home and just you know chrysler lebaron has wood sides on it it's a convertible
06:47the ugliest car ever drove it to the venue was like so excited about it and it broke down we had to push
06:52it out of the way so we could get brad's buses out and i had to leave it there in prior lake
06:56and uh that it shipped home yeah i still have it but yeah stuff like that happened all the time
07:03what do you have right now that you really love and i'm like what kind of car are you like looking
07:07to buy well in the worst way video i've always had old was early broncos like 66 to 77 and i've got a
07:1373 that was in that video and i've fixed it up and it's sharps green uh and i bought another lebaron
07:20the other day too yeah it's it's it's like kind of charcoal and wood is even uglier than the first
07:25one so i love that you're gonna end up like jay leno and just have like this car of all the
07:29i just keep adding on to my barn back home which is vehicle none of them crank all the batteries are
07:33dead but it's just awesome to go look at them oh my god i love that you have been out on the damn
07:37country music tour what have been some of the highlights from this uh well the first two weeks
07:42were in canada all the shows were sold out it's always cool to go to another country and people are
07:46you know it's just like being here it's got to make you think like just like being a kid from
07:50alabama like that's got to be so wild you know the craziest thing about it is how similar canada is
07:55to growing up in alabama i mean it's so rural up there and there's there's such big country music
07:58fans and i think that's the craziest thing because i i don't think i've been on a plane before i signed
08:03a record deal that is so 2018 i remember when you came for radio tour in new york and we were on the
08:1018th floor of madison square garden you're like what floor is this and i was like 17 or 18 you're like
08:14this is the highest i've ever been in a building yeah the jacksonville library in my hometown was 13 floors
08:18oh my god and that was that was mount everest for me so uh yeah i wasn't very well traveled so
08:25seeing that country music is as popular as it is everywhere and how people live you know very
08:30similar to how we did you know i thought alabama was the only small town there is in jacksonville you
08:34know uh but that's been great all the show's been great we had a great show in detroit this last week
08:39and uh it's just been really cool to see the venues get bigger and people keep showing up now that
08:43you've kind of like gotten to see some of the world like traveling singing music where have
08:47been some of your favorite places that you've gotten to go that maybe you never thought you
08:49would go i always say my vacation is going home the more i travel the more that's my favorite place
08:56to go visit and it is a visit when i go there yeah uh but i you know like the west coast has been
09:02awesome obviously the weather is always great out there and it's it's just cool to me to go places
09:07that i didn't think country music was popular and i think probably now more so than ever it's you
09:12know with all the yellowstone stuff and the western lifestyle becoming so popular
09:15uh we had two sold out shows in brisbane and headline two festivals in australia my first
09:21time going out there in november and i like although i'm not looking forward to the flight
09:24i'm looking forward to going back you know fans were great and then you just extended some dates
09:29into the fall you're taking jamie johnson and drake wide out which is good that's so fun those i love
09:34those too yeah and a girl named hannah mcfarlane who's from mobile so it's an all alabama tour which is
09:40cool to me you know drake grew up 10 minutes from me just over the hill in hoax bluff and jamie's
09:45probably my biggest influence in music next to randy owen you know and so it's cool to me to be able
09:50to take those guys out on the road and you know i always i played in color at every show for 12 years
09:56and i always think about how there's kids that are coming to my shows that don't know jamie johnson
10:01yeah and and it's it's awesome to think about he's gonna get in front of those people they're
10:06gonna have that same moment i did of like who is this guy you know yeah so it's gonna be a lot of
10:10fun to have them out on the road i'm really looking forward to for sure i was excited to see drake's
10:14name on there because i feel like he's been popping up in a little bit like he is maybe one of the most
10:18underrated artists well talented uh you know i i opened for drake years and years ago at a little
10:23place called brothers bar in jacksonville and i mean i was a huge fan of him growing up and still am and
10:28we've been able to do some shows together and obviously his story's very unique and inspiring
10:33and i think it's cool that you know in a small way i get to kind of help shine some light on that
10:38because that it's pretty amazing what he's out doing and still be as upbeat and like i mean he's
10:43more motivated than ever to go right and perform for sure i always laugh because i feel like at least
10:48like once a week there's some video that's gone viral of like some woman throwing her bra up on
10:52stage at you guys which i'm sure like you're like how do i even do this and like look your mother
10:56in the eye all these bras are flying yeah what do you like what do the tour guys do with those
11:00they're like throwing them out we were putting them in a big bin and we were going to donate them
11:05to wherever you donate bras to i guess because what i learned was there was a lot of people
11:10comment saying that they were really expensive bras are so expensive see i didn't know that i didn't
11:14yeah yeah i will tell you a funny story i played in huntsville one time in a smaller venue this was
11:19years ago and my grandmother lola jean was at the show in the balcony and somebody threw a bra on stage
11:23and i picked it up and was like grandmother like what are you you know like joking that it was her bra
11:27and then fast forward two years i guess i had a girlfriend at the time and she was at my house
11:32and like looking through the pantry and there was a bra still a tag on it and each whatever you want
11:38to call it was this big cup each receptacle was this big okay and i and she's like what is this
11:43i was like i don't know my grandmother had bought a giant bra to take to one of my shows to throw on
11:47stage like as a joke but she put it in my house so i had to explain to this girl that this giant
11:54person bra wasn't mine you're like let's face it's my grandmother she's like yeah right you know
11:58yeah that goes over real well i think about that a lot when bras get thrown on stage oh my god that's
12:03so funny i was reading there was an interview where scott porcetta the head of your record label was
12:07talking about how you called him like not so long ago asking about how mcgraw got into acting is that
12:13something that you're kind of starting to pursue or think about yeah well we've had some some things
12:17that are kind of offered to us and some opportunities come up and certainly i think the tie-in with
12:22again like you know western lifestyle and country music so so perfect right now and i think it's
12:28something i would enjoy i'll pick tim's brain a little bit you know and he's awesome you know
12:32and i think as a kid especially i thought acting was something you were just born with or you weren't
12:38you know like athletic ability or something and when you look at it like something that you can you
12:42can learn and you can get better at i think i got a lot more interested in it when i started seeing
12:46it that way and uh you know it's got to be something that i think could help me in my music career as
12:51well to get out in that space and try new things and it keeps everything exciting when you're
12:55you know you can be a little nervous about something you know because i mean people always
12:59ask you nervous to get on stage and like that's such a easy thing to go do now because we're so
13:03used to it and i like to put myself in situations that are a little bit out of my comfort zone yeah
13:08it's there was something recently now i can't think of what it was and somebody's like were you
13:11nervous i was like for the first time in a long time yeah but you kind of forget what that feels
13:15like and it's it's good to feel it again yeah it reminds you what it was like when you were kind of
13:20coming up and you know i mean i'm sure it was the same for you like there were times when you go on
13:23the air and you're like you know i hope this goes well and now it's like you're almost trying to get
13:28through it you know and it makes you stop and kind of enjoy it and appreciate it a little more and tim's
13:32such a great person to be able to talk to you about that because i feel like there's some people
13:35that look like try acting it's like a one-off thing but like tim is such a good actor yeah and also
13:41how he looks at it was really helpful for me too because you know i i picture actors being like oh yeah
13:46well if you didn't do this or go in the theater for this many years or whatever and tim's like hey
13:49man i if i can do it anybody can do it exactly although that's not true uh there's there's a
13:54great uh bit of motivation in that time attitude when you're you're talking to somebody like that
13:58for sure and then new music don't mind if i do came out last october and you've kind of like
14:03put an album out a year the last couple of years have you started working on new music are you
14:07thinking about that yet we have we've got some stuff coming out pretty soon actually maybe a
14:11little acoustic project and then uh we've been in the studio and cut i think six songs as of now to
14:16to come out at some point yeah so it's so wild like the way that music is working now because i feel
14:22like there used to be you could turn in an album release it and have a little bit of a break but
14:26right like now it just feels like you guys don't even like there's no stop well fans are always like
14:32what's next you know and and the crazy thing is from our side when people are listening that's the
14:37most motivating time there is you know people always think you have a big hit song worst way is a
14:41big song don't mind if i do uh and and i never feel like oh i'll just tour on those you know like
14:47i'm always thinking about well i gotta go write something better than that or what's the next one
14:50gonna be so do you think this will be the last single from don't mind if i do or would you like
14:55another one from this album i think we'll probably have to have another one there's some really big
14:59songs on the side yeah don't mind if i do is a huge song i mean and and on its own which is a
15:04really cool thing you know and it's so different stylistically from you like you love me
15:07and you know people i think fans really long for that like tim and faith george and tammy johnny
15:14cash and june i think that's why people have speculated so much about me and ella but i also
15:18think it's why they like us doing songs together so much and we're uh we're so similar and influences
15:24growing up you know in alabama together and uh so i it would be a shame not to shine a little more
15:29light on that song you talk about the speculation i and i kind of talked to ella about this because i was
15:33like i'm sure when you got into this you never imagined that this many people were going to like
15:37like with your mustache this many people were going to be this interested i get on the internet every
15:41day and find out who i'm dating it's awesome is that does that wear on you though i mean you know
15:47it's it's a small price to pay i guess to be able to do what we do for a living this is a really awesome
15:51lifestyle that we have uh it's not really my thing i'm not really a tabloid whatever you want to
15:58call it tmz type person and and i think that doing this for a living is is would probably make
16:04anybody a little reclusive just because you got to guard your privacy and your time a little more
16:09yeah but at the same time i get that fans really want to see they just want real and they want to
16:15believe that the lyrics are true and that there's really you know and i get that definitely um before
16:20we wrap up i want to have you do the story behind a couple songs that we're playing this week could
16:23you just talk about story behind real quick like 30 seconds there was this girl yeah there was this
16:28girl i wrote with my buddy eric dylan my first single and uh it was a really easy song to write
16:32because i feel like the the idea of a guy doing something stupid to try to win over a girl or
16:38impress a girl was pretty relatable topic and we certainly had no no shortage of ideas for that
16:43song and some of them were true and some of them were maybe a little exaggerated but a really fun song
16:47that's one of the songs that i feel like reminds me or is reminiscent of uh dirks bentley what was i
16:52thinking like those two are in the same family yeah very much yeah i remember thinking about the movie
16:57footloose and when they were playing uh chicken on the tractors yeah that was to win a girl over and
17:03that was kind of my thought of the first line of the song that's so funny and then different around
17:07here yeah different around here was uh a really a song about where i grew up at you know and it was
17:13cool to write it early in my career because i wasn't very well traveled and then i got to go out
17:17and see the world and realize that a lot of people grew up kind of similar to how i did and those values
17:22that i learned in a small town really kind of stretched all not just in the u.s kind of all
17:26over the place and i love that that song's become pretty anthemic and and also is a very nostalgic
17:33thing for me spending so much time on the road for sure and then the story behind you look like
17:37you love me and when ella sent you that like what you thought yeah i heard you like you love me a
17:41promoter buddy of mine that works with ella's played it for me and i thought man that's super
17:45catchy it's really cool i didn't think it was a hit i thought talking verses were probably a little
17:49too traditional but i knew it stayed in your head you wanted to hum it after and that's always a
17:53good sign so uh ella was going on tour with me i thought it might help if i wrote a guy's perspective
17:58second verse and uh we played it a couple of times recorded it and it became a giant hit uh had no
18:04clue and you know here we are it's so wild and i've said this to ella too but i think that that song
18:09what that will change going forward like there's always things i'm like this song can't exist if this
18:14song doesn't exist and i make sense like you know what i mean like i don't feel like everyone
18:18would have done all of this interpolation if cole hadn't had heads carolina or she had heads
18:24carolina so i feel like a lot of that exactly so like all the artists now that have wanted to do
18:28a talk and verse song i think we're gonna see more of it yeah it definitely opens the door creatively
18:32as a songwriter and you go well that worked okay hold on let me we can rip up the script here what
18:37we got to write too fun well listen i feel like you're having a hell of a 2025 so far and like lots
18:42of good stuff to come it's so good to see you congratulations on worst way it's good to see you
18:46hey good to see you
18:47you
18:51you
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