His big debut on The Voice.
Last night, Riley Green made his debut on the hit reality competition series, and of course, he landed a young and very talented country artist on his team. 19-year-old contestant Joe Henley performed Travis Tritt’s “Anymore,” and ahead of his audition, he knew he wanted to work with Riley Green:
“Country music is back on The Voice in a big way. Riley Green is here. I love him to death. Hopefully I could get more than one to turn. I would love to see new blood Riley Green and Kelly Clarkson go at it.”
Joe got exactly what he wanted, as he wowed both Clarkson and Green with his deep, pure country voice, very reminiscent of Scotty McCreery. He was incredible, and Kelly knew she was in for a battle, joking that Henley couldn’t stop looking at Riley while he was singing:
“He was singing it to you! Quit looking at him!”
Joe joked that he just couldn’t help but look into Riley’s eyes:
“It’s his eyes. I can’t help it.”
Kelly wasn’t giving up without a fight, though, making her case that she’s won the competition multiple times with country singers, adding that he will be in a pool of other country artists if he went with Green, rather than being a unique addition to her team:
“I have won this show, man, with country singers. Plural! Where do you think all the country singers are gonna go? Riley Green! Wouldn’t it be incredible to be the only country superstar on my team.”
When asked about his musical influences, Henley named some of the all-time greats in Keith Whitley, Don Williams, and George Strait, and when Riley joked about him leaving a very specific coach off of his list, Henley had the perfect response:
“I didn’t get to my number one.”
Riley was is impressed with Henley’s audition, so much so that when Henley told him “My Way” was his favorite song, Riley grabbed his guitar and they performed a stunning rendition of it together, which had to be a dream come true, and his voice is just amazing.
Eventually, he had to make a decision about whose team he wanted to be on, and to no one’s surprise, Henley went with Riley Green:
“I love you Ms. Kelly, so much, I promise, but I’m gonna go with Mr. Riley Green.”
Riley admitted that his strategy is to get as many country artists as he can, because considering how popular country music is right now, he’s confident a country artist can win the show this season:
“Kelly’s coming after my country guys. My strategy is to get as many country artists as I can. I want to get all of them, because I think there’s a great chance of a country music artist winning this whole show.”
While Kelly was a little disappointed, she explained why she knew Henley would choose Riley from the get go because he was “locking eyes” with him the whole time, joking that it was “like junior high all over again”:
“He could win you The Voice. He didn’t even look at me. He was locking eyes, like didn’t even see me. It was like junior high all over again.”
I mean, can you blame him, Kelly? It’s just nature…
“My Way” first debuted when Riley had a four-show role on Marshals, and it was later included on his album that just came out this past Friday, That’s Just Me. It’s another stunning solo write by Riley, and the live rendition with Henley was just beautiful:
“My Way”
