Riley Green definitely knows how to get a crowd fired up.
A couple of weeks ago, the Alabama native had the crowd booing him during a show in Knoxville when he got to one particular line in his song “Hell Of A Way To Go.”
“I’d be sittin’ on a lake like glass
Catchin’ largemouth bass
Just my boy and me
Or maybe on a fifty-yard line
Watchin’ Alabama whoop up on Tennessee…”
Yeah, you can see how that one didn’t go over great with Tennessee Volunteer fans. But Riley took his lumps in stride:
“I’ll be honest with you all. I’ve never been booed by this many people before. But I’m gonna tell you all the truth, it don’t bother me one bit. This would be a hell of a way to go getting booed by this many country music loving Tennessee fans.”
And last night he found himself in a little friendlier territory with his show at Rupp Arena, which happened to be the night before the Kentucky Wildcats take on Tennessee in their final regular-season basketball game before the SEC tournament.
Both teams are having great years, with Tennessee ranked #4 and the Wildcats at #15 ahead of today’s game. So obviously the stakes are high, and the rivalry will be heated. And Riley took full advantage of the opportunity to throw some red meat to the Rupp Arena crowd.
“I’m not an Alabama fan myself, y’all can relax on that part. The truth is, you don’t have to be an Alabama fan to like this song, you just have to simply not be a Tennessee fan, which is real easy…”
Riley then changed up the lyrics to the last chorus:
“Sittin’ on a lake like glass
Catchin’ largemouth bass just waitin’ on me
Maybe on the fifty-yard line
Watch Kentucky beat the shit out of Tennessee”
That’ll fire ’em up.
