Riley Green Recalls The Gig That Made Him Realize He Could Make It In Country Music

Riley Green reflects on the pivotal moment that took him from playing in front of 60 people to 1,260 and made him realize he might actually have a shot at a career in country music.

Many artists have defining moments in their musical journey that changed everything for the trajectory of their dreams. For Riley Green, it happened unexpectedly after years of playing small gigs at a local Mexican restaurant in Jacksonville, Alabama.

“I was playing a Mexican restaurant in Jacksonville, Alabama every week for about $150 a night. And, you know, there’d be 50, 60 people in there. I did that for about eight years,” he remembered in an episode of Southern Living’s Biscuits & Jam Podcast.

One day, he received a call from a venue called Iron City in Birmingham asking him to come perform there. At first, Green admits he couldn’t have imagined taking such a leap, and he truly believed there weren’t enough fans who would be willing to show up for a show with his name on it. It turns out, his music was touching more lives than he had realized.

“I said, ‘Man, that place holds 1,300 people. It’ll be empty, you know?’ And finally he talked me into coming down there and I think it was 1,260 people showed up, and I had no clue anybody knew who I was in Birmingham. So it was kind of an eye opening moment that I might have a chance to have a career in music, you know? ‘Cause I was just doing it on the weekends when I wasn’t framing houses, as a hobby,” he explained.

That night marked the beginning of a remarkable journey for Green, who went from playing small local establishments to performing in front of massive crowds, with venues now holding an thousands of people each night. What started as a “hobby” has since transformed into a dream-come-true success story.

Since first releasing his self-titled EP in 2018 with Big Machine Label Group, Green has accumulated CMA and ACM Awards, was named the Academy of Country Music’s 2019 New Male Artist of the Year, and has earned recognition as a CMT “Listen Up Artist” and a CRS “New Face.” His hits include the No. 1 2X-PLATINUM hit “There Was This Girl,” the 3X-PLATINUM-certified heart-tugger “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” as well as his chart-topping collabs with Thomas Rhett on “Half Of Me,” and Ella Langley on “You Look Like You Love Me.”

In the interview, the Alabama native goes on to credit a lot of his success and his strong work ethic to the lessons he learned from his athletic background, having played sports throughout high school and into college. He says these experiences taught him “accountability” and discipline that has now translated into his music career.

“You know, I think when I was 18 years old going into college, I probably didn’t have a lot of that. And when you’re being forced to get up at 5:30 in the morning, and go to workouts, and do this, and do that, and being held accountable, I think that’s something that you have to kinda learn,” Green admitted. “And the same thing was with getting up and going to work in the morning. I didn’t think I was gonna have a career in country music. I was fortunate. I got to go, you know, play and lot, a lot of times they’d let me drink for free, or gimme a hundred bucks, or something. And I enjoyed playing music. But I thought I’d be framing houses the rest of my life. So I had to grow up kinda quickly. And I think that work ethic was probably something that’s helped me a lot in my music career.”

Riley Green officially launched The Damn Country Music Tour on March 27 and will continue to make several more stops throughout Canada before returning to the States on May 1 with a show in Athens, Georgia. Fans can catch him on the road un through August.