Safe to say he was wrong.
Over the past few years, Riley Green has been nothing short of dominant. Between the success of both “Worst Way” and his feature on Ella Langley’s “you look like you love me,” the seemingly never-ending dating rumors surrounding him and various artists and his popularity on social media, Green has become a force to be reckoned with in the genre.
Of course, this is for good reason. After years of producing rock-solid, traditional hits with the likes of “There Was This Girl,” “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” and “Numbers On Cars,” the question was never if Green was going to breakout into superstardom but when for many country music fans.
Let’s face it, Green is the complete package when it comes to a modern country star. Beyond his good looks, which recently helped him secure People’s Sexiest Country Star award, the “Jesus Saves” singer has the ideal voice and overall musical ability that allows him to effortlessly blend traditional elements with a more modern sound that allows him to stick out in a time the genre is lacking straight-down-the-middle country artists.
For Green, however, he never thought of himself as having what it takes to actually become a professional singer and actually doubted his musical ability from the start. In a recent interview on the Zach Sang Show, he would note how he’s never really liked to listen to his voice, whether it’s in the studio singing and especially in interviews.
“Definitely singing. I never liked to hear my voice. I probably won’t listen to this ’cause I can’t stand to hear myself talk either.”
Green would then dive into a story about how he got his start in music. As he recalls, his granddaddy Buford was a huge country music fan. And when Green was young, Buford would start calling friends from around town to pick some guitars, banjos and mandolins to try to learn some of their favorite country classics.
“My granddaddy Buford was a big country music lover… and he had an old Epiphone guitar at his house. When I’d go over there, we’d sit around , neither one of us played. We’d kind of try to figure out these old songs, and he started calling up his buddies and guys that he knew that played the banjo and the mandolin and whatever. And we started meeting up every Friday on the front porch of my great grandparent’s house, which the floors were falling in on. And that went on for a few months.”
As time went on and more people started coming, the Alabama native revealed that his family turned his great grandparents home into a “miniature Grand Ole Opry” called the “Golden Saw Music Hall.” It was here where he’d get his start performing in front of friends and family after Buford would pay him $15-20 to get up on stage.
“People started to come watch, and we turned it into a music hall, a little miniature Grand Ole Opry. He painted a big sawblade gold and hung it on the front and called it the Golden Saw Music Hall. And it went on for about 13 years. Every Friday, they’d have anybody that wanted to play come and play music. Old ladies made snacks. And I would go out there and just sit there and watch how they made chords with their hands, so that’s how I learned how to play. He’d go, ‘Man, I’ll give you 15 [or] 20 bucks if you get up and sing a song tonight.’ And ’cause I was a kid, they all cheered whether I was good or not, so I got a little false confidence from that, probably.”
Even with so much experience from a young age, Green was never comfortable with his ability to perform on stage for years, once again saying how he never liked his voice and doubted his musical ablities.
“It took a long time for me to get where I would sing in front of anybody. I never liked my voice, never thought I was very musically talented.”
As we sit here in 2025, it’s safe to say that Green was wrong about his musical talent. I don’t think you manage to get five #1 hits, four ACM Awards and four nominations at the upcoming 59th CMA Awards by sheer luck alone.
Watch here:
Riley Green Tour Dates
November 1st, 2025 – Gonzales, LA – Boots on the Bayou %
November 6th, 2025 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena #~/
November 7th, 2025 – St Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena #~/
November 8th, 2025 – Kansas City, MO – TMobile Center #~/
November 9th, 2025 – Phoenix, AZ – The Hondo Rodeo Fest %
November 13th, 2025 – University Park, PA – Bryce Jordan Center #~/
November 14th, 2025 – Toledo, OH – The Huntington Center #~/
November 15th, 2025 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center Arena #~/
November 20th, 2025 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena ~/
November 21st, 2025 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center #~/
November 22nd, 2025 – Little Rock, AR – Simmons Bank Arena#^$
December 12th, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Resorts World
December 13th, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Resorts World
May 30th, 2026 – Panama City Beach, FL – Gulf Coast Jam %
