If Riley Green has any confidence at all, it goes back to his days playing football at Jacksonville State University. A quarterback, Green says that it was his time on the football field that gave him the confidence he now has on stage.
“Being a quarterback, you’ve gotta have a certain level of confidence to go out there and lead the pack, I guess,” Green explains. “And if you’re gonna get up on stage in front of people and sing about stuff you made up, you’ve gotta have some level of confidence then, too. It’s one thing if you’re just an amazing singer and you’re singing a song you know everybody is gonna sing along to. But I had to go out there and win them over with songs that I made up, and that’s a pretty scary thing for anybody, I’m sure.
“So, definitely the confidence that playing team sports gives you, it definitely helped me out and helped me get to where I am now,” he adds.
The Story Behind Riley Green’s Current Single, “Change My Mind”
Green has a hit single at radio with “Change My Mind.” The song comes after “Don’t Mind If I Do,” his second duet with Ella Langley, became a No. 1 hit for Green. The singer wrote “Change My Mind” with Erik Dylan and Randy Montana. The song is on Green’s latest Don’t Mind If I Do album.
“Change My Mind” says in part, “Show up in a midnight sundress / Burn me up with a whiskey kiss / Look at me with them pretty brown eyes / And tell me lies just to change my mind / You know I’m giving in, so go ahead / Do it, baby, like you’ve done a thousand times / Change my mind.”
Almost seven years after Green’s debut Different ‘Round Here album was released, the Alabama native is learning how to write a sexy song, without making people uncomfortable.
“The lyrics that don’t make it into the songs are where we went too far,” Green explains. “So, we usually go there, and then we backtrack to a place where we think maybe somebody won’t be offended. But to a certain extent, ‘Worst Way’ is a pretty direct song. And it’s done really well for me, so I guess we don’t shy away from it too much.”
Both the song and video of “Worst Way” were more overt than any of his previous songs. Watching “Worst Way” hit No. 1 taught Green a powerful lesson.
“It’s always kind of crazy when you have songs like this where ‘Worst Way’ just blew up and became this huge song, and then ‘Don’t Mind If I Do’ did the same thing. ‘Change My Mind’ is one that really did, too,” Green tells Country Now. “So I’m excited about a song that’s already had a life of its own getting a chance to be heard by people on country radio who maybe haven’t heard it yet, or haven’t heard of me. Radio is still the biggest way to get songs out there.”
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