Riley Green's 'Ain't My Last Rodeo' expands career 'tailor made' for country superstardom

Riley Green's stood offstage on an August Monday night, during Drake White's Benefit for the Brain benefit concert at Ryman Auditorium. As he spoke with fellow singers Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson, Green's appeal as a rising star on the Big Machine label was apparent.

Like Johnson, 14 years his senior, the former college football quarterback is an alum of Alabama's Jacksonville State University. And akin to both Houser and Johnson, he's a barrel-voiced country musician who looks tailor-made for holding a guitar, belting out an anthem and getting thousands to heartily holler in approval.

Five years into mainstream country acclaim, he's still humbled by the opportunity to have support from critically acclaimed and core country favorites.

"I was a construction worker who enjoyed playing shows on the weekends," Green told The Tennessean about his country music career before being signed by Big Machine Label Group in 2018.

One album and five EPs later, Green has arrived at "Ain't My Last Rodeo," his latest album, released in the fall.

It's an album that came as Green was caught in between finally grounding himself as a person able to claim "professional musician" as his occupation on his tax return but also -- via opening for superstar Luke Combs on 2023 tour dates -- contemplating the potential of his own country stardom, too.

On country radio, he has a duet with Combs, "Different 'Round Here," crossing into top-20 territory. However, a song virally released five years ago, his platinum-seller "I Wish Grandpas Never Died," gained a co-sign from Brad Paisley, plus massive viral appeal.

Green's Grandaddy Buford taught a reverence for the early roots of country music, plus how to sing and play guitar simultaneously.

Lessons crystallized in that song both led to its wild popularity and also are the organic root of his early success.

"Ain't My Last Rodeo" reflects him sitting with his longtime producer (and musical legend) Dann Huff and discovering the best ideas for what's next.

"Different 'Round Here" features the Country Music Association's reigning Entertainer of the Year in Combs, while "Copenhagen In A Cadillac" is a duet with Jelly Roll. Insofar as songwriters, a two-decade-long who's who of Music Row favorites -- from Aimee Mayo (Lonestar's "Amazed") and Rhett Akins ("Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" by Luke Bryan is among a quarter-century of his hits) to Jessi Alexander (2022 chart-topper "Never Say Never" by Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson) -- are present on the recording.

Alexander's a co-writer on "Damn Country Music," a song originally released by his label-mate Tim McGraw in 2015.

The song about breaking someone's heart, quitting your job and letting your parents down in pursuit of Nashville stardom idealizes the quest for fame as much as it, for Green, fleshes out the narrative of his craftsmanship.

Moreover, the performer notes that he could "just write songs that make you want to drive around in your truck and cry all day." However, on tracks including "Damn Good Day To Leave" and "My Last Rodeo," he's also keen on adding personal songwriting that, if it catches fire in a manner consistent with other hits in his career, could see him navigate the start of a career arc with an upward trajectory.

Green makes music as much to broadly appeal to fans as he is making music for himself, his two dogs, Carl (a cowboy corgi with its own Instagram account and over 25,000 followers) and Jazz (a yellow Labrador who joins him on his frequent duck hunts), and for his family.

"I could have all the accolades and chart-topping success, but my mother will still ask me if I want mashed potatoes for dinner," he said. "As long as people keep showing up, anywhere, to sing my songs, I'm happy to be there."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Riley Green's 'Ain't My Last Rodeo' expands career 'tailor made' for country superstardom