Luke Bryan Clarifies Riley Green’s Involvement in ‘Fish, Hunt, Golf, Drink’ Following Song’s Backlash

Luke Bryan is setting the record straight about the inspiration behind his buzzed-about new track, “Fish, Hunt, Golf, Drink,” making it clear that while Riley Green didn’t have a hand in writing the song, he did accidentally inspire it.

Back in July, Green appeared on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, where he addressed his connection to the song after fans began speculating online about how it came together. The track started to evoke a slew of negative comments with some listeners questioning whether AI had been involved in the writing process, which prompted Green to clarify that he had nothing to do with writing or creating the song.

“He gave me credit for him writing that song or he blamed me…one of the two,” Green explained. “He texted me and said that we need to get together. It’d been too long and he said ‘fish, hunt, golf, drink. So I was not there. I didn’t write the song, had nothing to do with the song. I didn’t even send the text. I didn’t even say ‘that’s a cool text,’ or ‘you should write a song.’ I had nothing to do with it.”

This week, Bryan joined Von’s show as a guest and confirmed Green’s statement. The truth is that Green didn’t write the song. It was actually penned by Bryan with Chase McGill, and Matt Dragstrem.

“Riley got involved because I texted Riley,” Bryan shared. “[He] goes, ‘Hey man, let’s get together.’ I said, ‘Hell yeah.’ I said, ‘Fish, golf, hunt, drink, etc.’ And then we wrote the damn song. Riley didn’t write it…The damn thing got so much negativity that Riley was being funny that he didn’t want to be, ‘Don’t associate me with that.’”

The Georgia native then opened up about the reality of living in the public eye and the constant criticism that has followed him throughout his career. When he first released what has since become one of his biggest hits, “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” in 2011, Bryan faced backlash from some listeners who felt the song was too scandalous. As his career continued, the criticism shifted to his appearance, with some even commenting that his jeans were too tight.

Over the years, Bryan has learned to accept that there will always be someone with something negative to say and that has only gotten worse with time as social media has continued to evolve.

“Whether you like the song or not, or whether you like me as an artist, whether you like what I’m about or whatever, we’re all learning that, I mean, I can’t do anything. Back when I wore tight jeans, I was the tight jean guy. So you go through all these phases. Well, I don’t wear tight jeans anymore. Now I’m the guy that somebody said that I AI’d a song and wrote it. It’s a fun song, man,” he said, defending the track.

The song arrived as an early look into his upcoming album, Signs. Shortly after it dropped, a few users with a large following shared their opinion that “Fish, Hunt, Golf, Drink” was written using artificial intelligence. That statement ended up spiraling into even more people joining in on the negativity.

“You have to wrap your head around the idea that you’re happy that everybody is being this way because it’s getting more notoriety. But then I’m like, ‘Well, wait, I’m not sure I’m happy about a bunch of teenagers telling a 50-year-old man he’s a piece of s**t songwriter.’ And then I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re 16. You’re talking to a grown man that’s made a s**t ton of money doing this,’” Bryan added.

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He then shared that he believes people hear the song and think he follows the lyrics exactly, meaning he wakes up, puts on camo, drinks his coffee and climbs the nearest tree.

“They’re not understanding. So I think they think that I’m out there climbing. I’m bear hugging a pine tree and climbing up.”

At its core, “Fish, Hunt, Golf, Drink” is a playful reflection of Bryan’s real life and the things he genuinely enjoys. As a true country boy at heart, he loves throwing on his camo and heading to the deer stand in the tree to hunt, spending a day fishing, enjoying a few cold drinks and hitting the golf course when he has some downtime. It really is as simple as that.