- 5 minutes ago
Riley Green is doing a little bit of everything lately, acting, coaching on 'The Voice,' and releasing his new album, 'That’s Just Me,' out everywhere on September 18. The singer recently stopped by 'Katie & Company' to talk about it all during the 'Superstar Power Hour.'
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Riley Greene, back to Key of Us Company to talk all about your new album, That's Just Me.
00:04How are you?
00:05I'm good, how are you doing?
00:06I'm good, are you alright?
00:07Yeah.
00:09So you have said with this album that there's a little bit of everything on here.
00:12When you say that, what does that mean to you?
00:16I think stylistically it's got a lot of different types of songs on it.
00:20I think that was something that was so great about the album Don't Mind If I Do.
00:23It had a lot of, you know, different moods.
00:25And I always tend to write sad country songs and people don't want to cry all day long.
00:30So I have some, you know, beer up in the air drinking songs like Think Is You Drunk.
00:36And I've got some beach songs.
00:38There's a lot of different types of moments on here.
00:40I agree.
00:41Like I love like a sad Riley Greene song and that is on here.
00:44But it was fun to see you have fun with some of these songs like Think Is You Drunk, but
00:48also beach happy.
00:49Like I was not expecting the turn of that.
00:52Yeah.
00:53You remember Blake's.
00:55That's exactly what I thought of when I heard it.
00:57And I was like, it was that one.
00:59And also, you know, Toby was so good at those lighthearted, fun songs, you know, so it's
01:03cool to have that kind of song on the record.
01:04I know.
01:05And I think that I was just saying this to somebody yesterday.
01:07I was like, I feel like everybody's been so serious for so long.
01:09I feel like I'm watching everybody have a little bit more fun.
01:12Like Kenny Chesney just put out that goldfish song and I'm like, this is fun.
01:15Well, also, you know me.
01:17I'm not very serious.
01:19You're really not.
01:20Think about people that think I'm serious, you know?
01:22Well, I know that there was like an interview recently where people thought you were being
01:26serious and I was like, oh, it's Theo Vaughn interview.
01:28Yeah.
01:28They're like, hey, they hate each other.
01:30I was like, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen.
01:32Like, how could anybody think?
01:34Yeah.
01:34You just got that dry sense of humor sometimes.
01:36I guess so.
01:37No, I'm actually just pissed off all the time.
01:39That's what it is.
01:40Is there anything you feel like you got to do for the first time on this record?
01:46Yeah.
01:47You know, I think that it's probably the process was a little different this time in that like
01:51when I wrote Don't Mind If I Do, I didn't get out of that creative space.
01:55So I continued to write.
01:56So I had a lot of songs that kind of were already a record, you know, so to speak.
02:00So I got to really look at it from like what kind of songs is missing?
02:03Like, what do I need to write?
02:05And that's fun.
02:06Like creatively, you're not just going into a room going, okay, here's some ideas I had
02:10wrote down.
02:11Like going in with a goal.
02:11Like, man, we need to write this kind of song or like a beat song or a beer drinking song.
02:16So it's fun to have a topic, so to speak, or a genre, whatever you want to call it when
02:20you go into a writing room.
02:22Did you, I know that there's one song on the album for sure that you didn't write, but
02:26is the majority of it you're all over it?
02:28I think I wrote 13.
02:31I think I wrote five or six solo.
02:33Oh my gosh.
02:34So I wrote a lot of it, but I've always written a lot of my records, you know, and that's
02:38not because I don't like cutting outside songs.
02:41I just, when I was growing up, I wrote and I didn't know anybody else that wrote songs
02:44that in construction, you know, so I wrote by myself.
02:47And now I think that I still enjoy writing to the point where when an idea hits me and
02:52I'm like excited about it, I'll just write it, you know, or if it works out, I've got
02:56a scheduled writer a couple of days in town, I'll get up with my buddies, but I'm always
03:00open to outside songs because I want to record the best songs, you know, if there are.
03:04And fortunately I've gotten to a place in my career where I've had some hits and songwriters
03:07want me to send me songs now, you know, they're not just sending them to Luke and Morgan,
03:13you know, so now I get songs sent to me.
03:14So it's great.
03:14You're like, this is nice to get these on the first pass.
03:17Let's talk about Think Is He Drunk, current single, Climbing Up the Charts.
03:20I feel like you just like had a lot of fun with this song and the music video.
03:24Yeah, it was a really easy song to write.
03:26I had the title for a while.
03:27It's, you know, we all heard that phrasing and there's a video, I think it was a clip
03:32from the show Reno 911, but it was where you've seen it.
03:35I know it's where the guy's a cowboy and he gets pulled over and they're doing a field
03:38sobriety test and he's dancing.
03:39She gives him all these real like in-depth dance moves and he does them all.
03:43And she's like, wow, that's impressive, you know, and he was like, no, I'm just drunk.
03:47There was something about that that was really funny to me.
03:51And Toby did a great job with his music videos, you know, and I love this bar.
03:57I ain't as good as I once was.
03:58That music video, I wanted to kind of capture that.
04:01You know, I got to be honest with you, I'm really good at pretending to be drunk.
04:05Oh, really?
04:05I was sober in that video, but I thought I looked really drunk.
04:08So, you know, I'm an actor.
04:10You are an actor.
04:11A lot of collabs on this album.
04:13One of the ones that I keep coming back to is Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads.
04:16You got to work with Brooks and Dunn.
04:18Talk about that a little bit.
04:19It was so awesome.
04:20Me and Dallas Davidson wrote the song and I had the title for a while.
04:25It was a tribute to the song Brooks and Dunn, Red Dirt Road.
04:27And I wanted to write it where it wasn't on the melody.
04:31It wasn't lyrically taking anything from them, just a tribute.
04:34But when I got to the bridge, I thought, man, wouldn't it be cool if I wrote it where maybe
04:37if they liked it, they could sing Red Dirt Road at the end.
04:40And I sent it to Ronnie and he was like, man, I'll sing it with Dan on Monday.
04:43So they loved it.
04:44That's so great that it worked out.
04:45I think they got that it was, you know, what I was trying to do with it.
04:48Yeah, and I, those two, like, talk about two of the funniest people you've ever met.
04:52Like, when they get on one together, like, it's just, did you get to, like, spend time with them in
04:56the studio?
04:56I've been really fortunate to get to know both of them.
04:59Their last reboot album, I sang one of my favorite country songs.
05:03She used to be mine.
05:05And it was nice to get thrown into that, singing a song, you know, singing Ronnie Dunn's part in front
05:10of Ronnie Dunn.
05:11Once you get that done, there's nothing that's more nerve-wracking than that.
05:14So, yeah, it was great to work with them.
05:15Yeah, I have heard this rumor and I, like, cannot wait to ask Ronnie about it.
05:19But I brought it up to somebody else.
05:20They're like, I heard that, too.
05:21Have you heard this, that Ronnie Dunn buried a million dollars cash and can't find it?
05:26That's an awesome story.
05:27I know.
05:28I'm like, I want it to be true.
05:29So bad.
05:30That would be really cool.
05:31But it sounds like something you would do.
05:33I might start looking for it.
05:34Exactly.
05:35Like, can we split it if somebody finds it?
05:38Thinking about other songs on the album, is there anything that you're particularly excited about or even, like, maybe nervous
05:43about for people to hear?
05:44Uh, I'm excited about the Lookout Mountain song with Randy Owen.
05:50I just, I love that song.
05:51Love Randy.
05:52He's been so great to me and such a good friend of mine.
05:54And you think about somebody that's got, like, 48 number ones.
05:58Like, that group, what they meant to music in general.
06:00Not just country music, but from a kid, you know, from Alabama.
06:05Small town, just not too far from Fort Payne.
06:07It's just so cool to have one of my, truly one of my heroes on a song.
06:10I feel like you've got a couple options on here for, like, musical event of the year.
06:14Like, a couple contenders.
06:15Well, you know, in the same way that I feel like it's kind of my obligation to take what I'm
06:19blessed to be able to do and share it with some up-and-coming artists and take them out on
06:22the road.
06:23Or have features like Hannah McFarlane on Go Again or Jake Worthington on Well Well Whiskey.
06:28Kind of demographic.
06:29So, you know, to be able to show them somebody that meant so much to me is a cool thing.
06:33Right.
06:34And when you think about, like, Brooks and Dunn, like, I know they ask everybody at the show every night,
06:37like, how many people is this your first Brooks and Dunn show?
06:39And Ronnie's like, it's like 80% of the crowd's first show, which is so crazy.
06:42Yeah, but also so cool that they're, of course, they're still out beating the streets and touring and, you know,
06:47putting the work in.
06:47So it's awesome to see that that's still living in the way it is.
06:51For sure.
06:52I do want to talk to you.
06:53The one song I like.
06:54I mean, I love the record.
06:55No, no, no.
06:55You said that perfect.
06:56The one song that I like off your 27-song album.
07:01Please tell me if I can write it down.
07:02It's the one you didn't write.
07:03Of course.
07:04But no, I listen to Ten Pair of Boots, like, probably 10 times.
07:07That song.
07:08It's a great song.
07:09Like, also the melody of that.
07:10Like, I can't think of something else that I've heard that's like that, but it probably feels, like, so familiar,
07:15too.
07:15Like, there's something.
07:16It's just a really beautiful song.
07:17It's just warm and just feels right.
07:21And it was really, like, it was probably the biggest stretch musically for me on the record because I would
07:26not have come up with that melody.
07:28I thought you sang it great, though.
07:29Well, I had to, like, work for it.
07:31I mean, a lot of stuff I write, I write in my wheelhouse.
07:33I write the way I write.
07:35And that was what drew me to the song.
07:37And lyrically, I love the story.
07:41I just had to take what I heard in a demo and reel it in and make it, you know,
07:47me in whatever way I could.
07:49And I think it turned out great.
07:51It was one of my favorite songs on the record.
07:53Such a great song.
07:54So the album is going to come out on Friday and the voice starts on Monday.
07:57Very strategic.
07:58That's cool.
07:58That worked out.
07:59That sounds great.
08:00Are you planning on watching any of the pre-taped stuff or have you seen any of it?
08:05I haven't seen any of it.
08:06Do you want to watch it or would you rather be like, tell me it was good?
08:09So I don't like hearing myself talk, but this is one of those things where it's so cool that I'm
08:15on there.
08:16And with those, you know, Queen Latifah, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine, it's going to be fun to watch.
08:22And also it's such like a household show, you know, like kids watch it with their grandparents, you know, so
08:27it's so, you know, multi-genre.
08:30It's going to be cool to see.
08:32Obviously, like you got to do some acting recently, so it's not like you're unfamiliar with being in front of
08:36the camera.
08:37But what about this was maybe like challenging or you found yourself really enjoying that you weren't expecting?
08:42This was a lot easier than acting.
08:44Really?
08:44Yeah, I mean, you know, when I was on Marshalls, I'm playing a former Marine with PTSD and like there's
08:50something that's very serious and you want to get that right.
08:53You want to, you know, and it's something I haven't lived through.
08:56I don't, so, you know, I've got to get out of my skin and on the voice, I'm just being
09:00me.
09:01And it was really so helpful to have seen Blake on there and what he does so well with his
09:07personality, his sense of humor, because I knew what I liked about it.
09:11So I could kind of say, okay, well, I'm going to do my version of that.
09:15And all you have to do is just make fun of Adam for being old and talk about how famous
09:19Queen Latifah is and then talk about how much more country you are than Kelly Clarkson so that they pick
09:25you.
09:25Really all it takes.
09:26It's easy.
09:26Anybody could do it.
09:28I love it.
09:29And I heard you talking about like you've grown like really attached already to some of the contestants.
09:33Like I'm sure that's been really cool.
09:34Yeah, there was a, there was a girl that came on there that, I mean, there's, there's a lot of
09:39amazing stories.
09:40And there's people that, you know, work a nine to five or work the late shift and have kids and
09:44they took off to go kind of chase their dreams.
09:45But there was a girl that stood out to me that where she's from, she wasn't legally allowed to sing
09:52like their culture, you know, and that's such a crazy thing for me to think about and try to comprehend.
09:57But just, you know, to hear her story and how much it meant to her to be able to go
10:01on television and, you know, how proud her family was of her.
10:04Like it just, you know, career that at times can be rough and spread you a little thin and wear
10:11you down.
10:12That's, you know, it makes you appreciate the opportunities you have.
10:15For sure.
10:16So the voice is starting this week.
10:17So is Dancing with the Stars.
10:18And we were talking earlier.
10:19We're like, do we think that Riley would ever do?
10:21No.
10:22Hard no.
10:22Have they tried to get you on it?
10:24No.
10:24No, but you wouldn't do it?
10:26I don't know.
10:28Okay.
10:29So not even, not even an option.
10:31You're also out on tour right now.
10:33What is like pre-show ritual for you and the band?
10:36Like are there things that you do every day or every night before you guys are going out on stage?
10:42We have a, we have a little moment and we kind of gather up and say a prayer and like,
10:48I'm, I'm, I'm pretty goofy, you know?
10:52So I always try to find some way to like, yeah, cause I mean, it's a grind, you know?
10:56And especially with the voice.
10:58I mean, I'm, you know, touring itself is a lot of traveling and wearing you down, but being in LA
11:02every week, flying to LA every week, doing that for three or four days and then flying to go play
11:06shows.
11:07A lot of times I'm doing it for myself.
11:08I always make the analogy of, you know, like when a baby is sleepy, but it doesn't want to go
11:12to sleep.
11:13So it's like making noise and like just acting like that's what I do.
11:16Yeah, I just, I get like that.
11:17So I have to like do something to hype us up.
11:20But yeah, I've got a really close knit bunch and really great people on my crew.
11:26And I think that's what I've come to find out is more important than having great musicians.
11:31It's just people you want to be around.
11:32Exactly.
11:33I did want to tell you, thank you because CMA nominations for broadcasters came out this week.
11:38And when we submit, we have to put in like a five minute, like montage of the last year.
11:43And I included the eyelash bit and we got nominated for a CMA.
11:47Yeah, that was us.
11:48We did the eyelash thing.
11:49Yeah, because of you.
11:50Yeah, the eyelash thing that helped us out a lot.
11:53So thank you.
11:53I didn't realize how boring my eyes are until I didn't have those in the next day.
11:57I feel like that all the time when I take mine off.
11:59I'm like, I wish they were still on.
12:00Well, I'm glad it worked out.
12:03Congratulations.
12:04Final question.
12:05When are you going to bring us some taxidermy to add to that wall?
12:07I saw your video the other day talking about.
12:09Yeah, Luke Bryan's out of two things up there.
12:11I'm like, are you, do you even hunt?
12:12He's not busy.
12:13He's like, I got you.
12:15Honestly, the problem is, is like, I don't want to do something that's already there.
12:19Oh, okay.
12:20Listen, I've got deer heads and turkeys and ducks.
12:24Well, I appreciate you not phoning it in.
12:26Luke keeps giving us stuff that he trapped on the farm.
12:28He hasn't even killed those things.
12:29Yeah.
12:30Like he trapped it in a cage.
12:31Luke's probably re-gifting.
12:32I'll be honest with you.
12:33It's probably something that he, you know, because he's been fishing, hunting and loving every
12:38day for a long time.
12:39Right, well, and I heard recently, like, you got roped into the fish hunt golf.
12:42Roped is a great way.
12:43You know what happened.
12:44He texted you, and then that became the inspiration for the song.
12:47Yeah, but I had nothing to do with it.
12:48I didn't, like, say to the text, hey, that's a great song, you should write that.
12:51He just texted me and said, let's hang out.
12:52I was like, yeah.
12:53He said, fish hunt golf drink, question mark.
12:57I'm like, cool.
12:58Sounds like a nice time.
12:59And then he wrote the song.
13:00And then he brought me up, so now people were like, hey, Riley wrote that song.
13:02I was like, no, no, no.
13:03You're like, I don't want anything to do with that, right?
13:05I had nothing to do with that song at all.
13:06Amazing.
13:07Well, listen, thank you for coming to see us.
13:09Appreciate you.
13:10Album is amazing.
13:11Excited for everybody to hear it.
13:12Thanks.
13:13Riley Green.
Comments