Riley Green

Riley Green received his first big break as a contestant on the fourth season of CMT’s reality series Redneck Island, and he parlayed that into a career as a straight-ahead country singer in the late 2010s. Green sang about trucks, beer, and boots, often to a big beat that recalled the boot-scootin’ 1990s, an attitude crystallized on his 2020 EP If It Wasn't for Trucks. Nevertheless, his distinguishing trait was an unapologetic sentimental streak, one that was showcased on his 2019 breakthrough hit “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.” Green followed it with a pair of EPs, 2021′s Behind the Bar and 2022′s There Was This Girl.
A native of Alabama, Green grew up equally interested in sports and music. The latter he learned from his grandfather, Bufford Green, who ran a music joint while Riley was growing up. After attending Jacksonville State University, Green began pursuing a career in showbiz. In 2013, he released an eponymous EP. The following year, he signed up for the fourth season of Redneck Island, CMT’s country spin on Survivor. Redneck Island raised Green’s profile, bringing him to a wider audience. He took advantage of these new listeners by releasing the Bury Me in Dixie EP in 2015 and the County Line EP in 2016. The next year brought Outlaws Like Us. In June 2018, Green issued the In a Truck Right Now EP, which included the title track and the hit single “There Was This Girl.” Another EP, Get That Man a Beer, appeared in June 2019, followed by his debut album, Different 'Round Here, that September. The record debuted at 11 on Billboard’s Country charts and generated the hit ballad “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” which peaked at 12 Country Airplay.
Green opened his 2020 with Valley Road, an EP containing acoustic versions of five of his hits, then closed the year with If It Wasn't for Trucks, an EP of five brand-new tunes, including the Randy Owen duet “Better Than Me.” Another EP, Behind the Bar, appeared the following year. Early 2022 brought two new releases, the concert album We Out Here: Live along with another EP, There Was This Girl. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine