Riley Green Says His Career ‘Feels Different’ Now But the Pressure Isn’t What Fans Might Expect

As Riley Green prepares to unveil his fourth studio album, That’s Just Me, on September 18, he sits down with Willie Geist for conversation on Sunday TODAY to discuss how the album making project has changed for him over the years.

The project is set to include 19 tracks, most of which Green had a hand in co-writing. Now that he has several full-length collections already under his belt, he says developed a better understanding of how to decide on the sound and direction he wants for his music.

“Where I’m at in my career now looks different,” he admits. “I always try to think about what got me here, what types of songs and where I was mentally writing from and make sure those songs are always on an album.”

Fans have already gotten a glimpse into the upcoming album through tracks like “My Way” and “Think As You Drunk,” a comedic tune that pays tribute to one of Green’s musical heroes, the late Toby Keith. Listeners might notice that the Alabama native’s new release shares a similar melody with Keith’s classic, “As Good As I Once Was.” At the very end of the track, Keith’s vocals even make an appearance in the final lyrics, singing, “May not be good as I once was/ But I’m as good once as I ever was.”

“We didn’t sit down to write a Toby Keith kind of song, so we sent it to his manager and he played it for their family and they loved the idea of him being a part of the song and having that little line, ‘as good as I once was’ at the end,” Green explained.

Geist called attention to the fact that there’s no denying Riley Green has attended a whole new level of success since dropping his full-length debut studio album, Different ‘Round Here, in September of 2019. He has especially skyrocketed in the past year after releasing a pair of hit duets with Ella Langley: “You Look Like You Love Me” and “Don’t Mind If I Do.”

He then asked the country star if putting an album out feels different these days or comes with any added pressures.

“It feels different. It’s not an expectation thing though,” Green reveals. “There’s not really more pressure now, especially not from fans. More people are finding me every day so to make that circle bigger, how do you do it? I’m able to put out music and grow something that’s really been growing for the last 12 years.”

The 37-year-old goes on to say that he has gotten opportunities that he never would have dreamed of having back when he first started out. He’s made his acting debut and is set to be a first-time coach on The Voice, but he says one of the biggest accomplishments in his mind is opening his own Bar in Midtown Nashville called Riley Green’s Duck Blind.

“There’s a bar that I can go to and eat breakfast for free every morning. Nobody can throw me out of it. I got a key to a bar.”

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He jokingly added, “I don’t have to tile anything while I’m there,” referring to a gig in his past days when he went from performing to retiling the bathroom after closing time.

Riley Green has come a long way since his days of being an athlete in his hometown of Jacksonville, AL and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

He is currently in the midst of his Cowboy as it Gets Tour with dates running through December.