Riley Green and Ella Langley have another duet at radio. The two, who just had a No. 1 hit with “You Look Like You Love Me,” are back with “Don’t Mind If I Do.” The song, written by Green, is the title track of his latest album, out last fall. After Green had a No. 1 hit with “Worst Way,” a song he also wrote by himself, the Alabama native decided to release the love song as his next single, becoming the most-added at radio the week it was released.
“I didn’t plan on her being on that song,” Green says on Apple Music Country‘s Kelleigh Bannen. “I wrote it as a duet, but I had her come by the studio to put a female vocal on it just to hear it so I could potentially pitch it around, and she just crushed it. It sounded so great. We are from very similar areas in Alabama, and I think we grew up listening to the same kind of music. So maybe that’s why our voices go so well together, and we’ve got the same kind of twang. Even having those two duets wasn’t a planned thing. It just kind of happened. I’m happy for her success, and it’s fun having her on the road to do those two songs and have those two hits with her.”
Even when Green asked Langley to come sing on the song, he still didn’t realize that he had already found his perfect duet partner.
“I think I got her to come in the day I wrote it, and just kinda hum to see what key I needed to write it in, ’cause I wrote it as a duet,” Green tells his record label. “And when I was in the studio recording it, I just called her to come by to put a vocal on it so I could play it for whoever I was gonna pitch it to, as far as the female. And she just crushed it. I remember sitting there, and she was like in a sweatsuit. She came by the house and sang it, and it was just, I couldn’t imagine anybody doing it better than she did.
“So, it was cool for her to be on the song,” he adds. “Also having her out with all the success on the other song, and also lyrically it kind of feels like the song after ‘You Look Like You Love Me.’ So it’s kind of cool to have that accidentally work out.”
Green and Langley have been touring on his Damn Country Music Tour together, in between her headlining shows and joining Morgan Wallen on his I’m The Problem Tour. With two duets, the pair have been plagued by rumors of a potential romance – not that Green cares.
“For me and Ella to have two songs together that are doing that much, I’m sure there’s a lot of rumors and speculation, but it’s cool,” Green says. “It’s cool to see people react and have emotions to something that you write. More than anything, that’s what’s enjoyable about it.”
An avid lover of traditional country music, amid other genres, the 36-year-old understands why fans want to perceive a romance when Green and Langley sing “Don’t Mind If I Do.”
“I think people kind of long for that storybook type of thing, the George [Jones] and Tammy Wynette, or Johnny [Cash] and June [Carter] and all that,” Green tells Billboard. “You haven’t seen it in a long time—maybe Tim [McGraw] and Faith [Hill] would be the closest thing we’ve seen, and I don’t have a problem leaning into that at all. I think she writes great songs, and I love her voice so I think if there’s something else that comes along that fits, we’ll probably do it.”
Green and Langley will likely have another hit with “Don’t Mind If I Do,” but the song is vastly different from their first duet.
“With ‘You Look Like You Love Me,’ it’s a girl picking up a guy in a bar song, so I can totally see where that led fans to think something,” Green admits. “And then we go with ‘Don’t Mind If I Do,’ which is a more heartfelt love song. But we’re just great friends, and I’m really a fan of her music, so it’s awesome to have this success with her on both these songs.”
Green just released a five-song acoustic Midtown Sessions EP, which includes a cover of Tim McGraw‘s “Cowboy in Me.” Find all of Green’s music and upcoming shows at RileyGreenMusic.com.
Photo Credit: CMA / Hunter Berry