When in the Volunteer state…
Last night, Riley Green headlined a show at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, where he of course played tons of hits, but his fan-favorite 2022 song “Hell of a Way to Go” got a huge reaction from the crowd because he made a very specific lyric change just for the Tennessee crowd.
The song was written by Riley with Erik Dylan and Wyatt McCubbin, and Riley previously shared that it was inspired by his grandaddy:
“If my granddaddy could’ve left this world while he was either watchin Alabama play football, fishin on Weiss lake or just sittin in the carport with my grandmother I know he would’ve been happy.”
From hunting, to fishing, to watching college football with his dad and grandaddy, Riley recounts all of their special memories together from growing up until this point in his adult life. As the song goes on, he imagines what it will be like when he gets to do the same things when he has a son of his own one day.
As you can imagine, he gets some big reactions from the SEC crowds, mostly bad unless he’s playing in certain parts of his home state of Alabama, and because he suspected there were a good amount of Volunteers fans in the crowd last night, he had to tell them that he’s not actually an Alabama fan… he’s an Auburn fan. Of course, that isn’t much better if you’re a Volunteer, and the crowd certainly let him know that:
“I’ve got a confession to make. I gotta tell y’all the truth. I am not, we are not, Alabama fans. So y’all can relax about that, okay? We’re Auburn fans. I didn’t think that would do much better. I’ll tell you what, I’ve played this song all over the country, and I’ve only done this one other time, but I’m going to do it tonight because y’all are a good crowd…
I can tell we’ve got some Tennessee Volunteers in here tonight, and the year I wrote this song, Tennessee beat Alabama for the first time in like 40 years. So if you promise to not video it, I’ll change the words one time. This hurts me.”
The 40 years part was a joke, but it had been a very long time, and I can’t believe he actually did it, but here’s what he said instead of the original “watchin’ ‘Bama beat the hell out of Tennessee”:
“Alabama’s getting the hell kicked out of ’em by Tennessee.”
Some of the fans loved it, though I still heard a few “boos,” and you can’t please them all… I don’t think I could have done it myself.
Riley was joined on stage by one of his openers, Drake White, and you can watch the video here:
@lindseykaye0729 @Riley Green just know not everyone in Nashville is a Vols fan ☠️😂 they all cheered for the lyric change lol #duckman #rileygreen #ascowboyasitgetstour #vols #bama ♬ original sound – Lindsey Adcock
“Hell of a Way to Go”
Cowboy As It Gets 2026 Tour Dates:
April 18th, 2026 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena#~$
May 7th, 2026 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion#~•
May 8th, 2026 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre#~•
June 18th, 2026 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center#~•
June 19th, 2026 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center#~•
June 20th, 2026 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater#~•
June 25th, 2026 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center#$*
June 26th, 2026 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake#$*
July 16th, 2026 – Green Bay, WI – Resch Center#~•
July 23rd, 2026 – Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre#~•
August 6th, 2026 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater#/•
August 7th, 2026 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center#/•
August 8th, 2026 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live#/•
August 13th, 2026 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion#/•
August 14th, 2026 – Hartford, CT – The XFINITY Theatre#/•
August 15th, 2026 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheatre#/•
August 21st, 2026 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford#$*^
August 22nd, 2026 – Grand Forks, ND – Ralph Engelstad Arena#$*^
#Justin Moore
~Drake White
$Mackenzie Carpenter
•Hannah McFarland
*Adam Hood
/Zach John King
