9 min read
Drive up the winding path to Riley Green’s farm in rural Alabama, and it’s easy to see where the country star’s trademark authenticity comes from. His love for his family, his pride in his hometown of Jacksonville, Alabama, and his hodgepodge of collections (from vintage cars to hunting trophies to baseball bats to farm animals) offer a glimpse into the 37-year-old’s personality. And it makes sense that he named his new album, out September 18, That’s Just Me. The 19-song collection reflects the same mix of traditional country, humor, nostalgia, and Alabama pride that fills his farm.
These days, with his ongoing Cowboy as It Gets tour and filming two seasons of The Voice, he’s spending more time on the road than at the place he calls home. But that only seems to deepen his attachment to the land he grew up on.
Riley’s career has exploded over the past year, but fans know that the college quarterback-turned-construction worker-turned-ACM New Male Artist of the Year Award winner has been at this for a long time, and his seemingly meteoric rise is a result of a lot of hard work and his knack for compelling storytelling. (And a great mustache doesn’t hurt.)
The “Worst Way” singer welcomed Country Living to his home and farm, where he talked about new music, breaking into acting, and joining the world of The Voice.
Where Riley Green’s Roots Run Deep
Open the screen door to Riley’s porch, and you get an instant peek into the hitmaker’s personality. The home gives man cave vibes, but a closer look reveals his numerous collections.
Football helmets from his days at Jacksonville State fill cubbies beside a wall of hunting trophies. Every surface is made of wood or leather, and he has a pair of grandpa rocking chairs flanking a potbellied stove. One room serves as a poker hangout (he’s the self-appointed blackjack dealer), while a loft houses bunk beds for his nieces and nephews.
“I grew up running around in these woods for years when I was a kid, even before they were mine,” he says. “My great-uncle Bill owned the parcel that we’re sitting on right here. I was really fortunate that I grew up around both sets of my grandparents the majority of my life. My granny, my great-grandmother, was alive for most of my life. So I had great-grandparents and cousins, and my whole family right here in this area. And I didn’t realize how rare that is until I got out in the world.”
Now, he doesn’t take it for granted. “For me to be able to get a farm like this and make it a really nice, enjoyable place for people to come hang out, it’s less about me enjoying it now, more about my family having a place to all gather. And for me, as much as I’m gone, that’s more important now than ever.”
He’s been buying up the surrounding acreage when it becomes available. “Improving the land that you’re on, to me, is probably the most rewarding thing that I can ever do,” he explains. “I always enjoyed doing construction work when I was growing up, because you could see what you did at the end of the day. You can literally ride by and look, and the walls were up, or the roof was on, whatever it is. And this is just like that, you know?”
He glances out the window at the rural landscape and says, “I can remember sitting right here on a bucket. There wasn’t a barn here. I looked at this going, ‘Man, a lake would work out there if I kind of pushed that up and did this,’ and now there’s a lake there. I remember sitting on the tractor up here on the side of the hill thinking, ‘Maybe it’d be nice to kind of dig into this and build a fire pit and a little tee box, hit golf balls across the lake,’ and now it’s a waterfall up there.”
It’s easy to see how the spot serves as a respite from his chaotic life. “There is a little bit about my lifestyle that would make anybody a little reclusive and a little stingy of their time. Obviously, I don’t even see my family that much. So I always spend a day or two and kind of catch up with everybody, take everybody out to dinner. If my niece and nephew are around, they always run around over here. So I love to have them over a little bit.”
When he really needs to disconnect, he puts himself to work. “I think my biggest disconnect is getting on a bulldozer, a tractor, and tilling up or bush-hogging or planting something or clearing roads. You forget you have a phone when you’re out there. There’s no point bringing it with you. You can’t get any service anyway.”
On the Farm
The Sound of Small-Town Alabama
Country music fans can’t deny that Alabama is having a big moment, thanks to artists like Riley, Ella Langley, and the Red Clay Strays. “I think that Alabama, overall, has probably always leaned to more traditional country music. I think it’s just because traditional country songs really felt like they were about us,” he says.
“But I just feel like there’s a lot of country music fans down here, and I think that traditional country itself is making a comeback. The country lifestyle in general is more popular with the Yellowstone shows, and everyone wants to get a horse, get a cowboy hat, get boots,” he acknowledges. “But that’s just something that we grew up around down here. So I think that the small-town values we have here are becoming more popular.”
“With a lot of the craziness going on in the world, there’s some comfort in this kind of living,” he says. “It’s gonna influence everything I do musically. I’m probably more mindful about it now than I used to be, because when I started writing songs, it was just because I got tired of playing the same covers every week. But I wrote from a place that was very relatable to a lot of people who grew up the way I did. I had a great family around me that influenced me in a lot of ways.”
“When I started having a little success and signed a record deal, I went to town and started writing with great writers. I realized that I need to make sure I always come back to this place for inspiration, because that’s what got me here. It’s more important now than ever that I come home, and this is where I write not only my favorite songs, but a lot of my biggest songs are written in this barn right here.”
The Things Riley Green Keeps Close
Riley’s farm offers plenty of space for his many collections, from vintage cars to farm animals to sports memorabilia. During his travels, he’s always on the lookout for a treasure. “That’s my hobby on the road,” he says. “I get on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. I travel so much, if I find a deal on something, I’ll buy it and bring it home and work on it a little bit.”
But his love for classic cars goes back to his teenage days: “My first vehicle was a ’68 Ford Bronco. I think I did a tile job in someone’s bathroom and traded him that and $1,000 for it. My mom worked at a career tech center, and the auto body shop painted it for free,” he says.
“I didn’t have any money, but I always loved old vehicles like that. My granddad taught me how to drive in it, three-speed on the column, you know? And it’s something about the smell in an old vehicle like that. I feel like a smell, something could take you back like a song can. Now I just love having old vehicles like that.”
The barns on his property aren’t just for cars. Riley’s fans know Carl, his Cowboy Corgi. He’s the undisputed leader of the pack at Riley’s farm. Carl and his girlfriend Carol Anne had two puppies earlier this year, and they join a yellow Lab named Jazz, plus Highland cows, turkeys, chickens, pigs, and guineas. “It’s like a petting zoo over here. I always wanted horses,” he says. “I want to be able to ride, and so I’ve got two horses. And I probably got 12 miniature goats.”
“We grew up going to a place called Trade Day up in Collinsville, Alabama. They always have a bunch of animals for sale up there, and we would go there and buy them. And now that I’ve got this big property, it’s the perfect place for them.”
Keeping Traditional Country Alive
That’s Just Me is packed with 19 tracks, from fun beachy tunes to romantic love songs. But he makes some memorable hat tips to more traditional country music. He features Brooks & Dunn and Randy Owen of Alabama on tracks, plus pays tribute to Toby Keith.
“I’m so fortunate to have been able to keep getting young fans, and staying relevant with a demographic that is on TikTok or something I don’t understand. And because of that, I feel a little responsibility to keep introducing these artists that influenced me so much,” he says.
“That’s why I love taking out Clint Black and Sammy Kershaw and Travis Tritt, John Michael Montgomery on the road with me, because it just shines light on those guys.”
Brooks & Dunn join him on “Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads,” Riley’s tribute to their 2003 hit “Red Dirt Road.”
“You can’t just call Brooks & Dunn and get them on your album, and it’s certainly not something I would have thought would be possible,” he says. “But when I wrote that song, I had the title for a long time. I didn’t want to take anything away from that song. But I wanted to be a tribute to Brooks & Dunn and what that song meant to me. So when I wrote it up, I left the space in case they liked it.”
He was right to leave room for them—Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks came through. “I sent it to Ronnie and their manager, and he texted me, said, ‘I can do it on Monday.’ So it blew me away that was even a possibility.”
He has a similar story with Toby Keith’s cameo on “Think As You Drunk.” He’d made a connection with the late country star’s family over the years, so he shared the track with Toby’s longtime manager. “They really loved it and thought it’d be awesome if he was a part of it somehow. And we toyed with what that meant.” They ended up adding Toby’s vocals to the end of the song. Riley says, “I thought it was really a perfect tip of the cap to Toby Keith.”
His Next Act
Riley took his first foray into acting alongside friend Luke Grimes on Yellowstone spinoff Marshals. And the feedback from his fans was positive.
“I always feel like when somebody comes from one world and goes and tries something new, people are kind of ready to pick them apart a little bit,” he says. “It’s really been the most positive feedback I’ve gotten. I watched it pretty critiquingly myself, and I thought it was good. The competitive part of me was watching it like film in football. I was thinking, ‘I shouldn’t have done this. I shouldn’t have done that.’ And then there were people that watched the show that found me that way.”
He teases that he has some not-yet-announced projects in the works. But, for now, he’s letting his own personality shine through as a coach on seasons 30 and 31 of The Voice. His first foray into a singing competition debuts on September 21, where he’ll be sitting in a red chair alongside Kelly Clarkson, Queen Latifah, and Adam Levine.
“I’m really just being myself, and I’m getting to try to share a little bit of knowledge with some people that are trying to do what I do for a living,” he says.
Joining the show was an easy yes for Riley. “I think that it’s an opportunity to introduce me to a lot of fans that maybe aren’t country music fans or maybe haven’t found me yet. It was kind of hard to believe that they picked me to do it, and I certainly wasn’t there to let them change their mind. I was all for it.”
CREDITS:
Shot and Filmed By: Bob Miller
Editor-in-Chief: Rachel Hardage Barrett
Digital Director: Katie Bowlby
Creative Director: Maribeth Jones
Visual Director: Kate Phillips
Visual Editor: Ian Palmer
Styling: Evan Simonitsch
Grooming: Libby Barnes
Director of Video: Amanda Kabbabe
Video Editing: Amanda Evans
Katie Bowlby is Digital Director at Country Living, where she covers pop culture news including country music, Yellowstone, and all things HGTV, plus gift guides and product reviews. She has been with Country Living for more than 11 years. Before that, she worked for Southern Living. The Indiana University grad also stitches up the cross-stitch pattern for every issue of the magazine.
