He stays true to himself, and that’s what works.
Riley Green released his new album That’s Just Me a couple weeks ago, which features a pretty lengthy 19-song tracklist. It also features collaborations with Hannah McFarland, Jake Worthington, Alabama’s Randy Owen, and my personal favorite, Brooks & Dunn.
Riley’s career has blown up over the last several years, and while all artists evolve, he hasn’t changed who he is fundamentally as an artist. Fans can always count on him to deliver really quality songs with beautiful lyrics and great production, and that’s what he delivered here.
In addition to consistently putting out great music, Riley is an artist who basically stays on the road year round, and I think that has a lot to do with his current success. He’s spent years and years putting on shows all over the country, earning fans by delivering concerts that never disappoint, and I think that organic connection with his fans is paying off in a huge way now.
To give you an example of just how popular he’s become, Riley earned his highest charting album ever and first ever top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart as That’s Just Me came in at #3 on the all-genre chart.
And his focus on his fans has never changed, despite how famous and successful he is now. In fact, he gave a great example of how he’s maintained that connection with his fans during an interview on the Zach Sang Show, he explained that he still runs his on Instagram account, and even though he hates it, he feels like it’s a connection point with his fans that doesn’t resonate the same if the posts and information aren’t coming from him.
In fact, he told a funny story about how he once tried to let his camera guy run it, and he had to call him after he used a semicolon on a post… Riley said he still doesn’t know what it does, and ultimately, “it’s just about saying things to what you would say them”:
“I’ve just seen so much value in saying things the way I would say them, you know. I mean, I still run my Instagram, and I hate it. I would love for somebody else to do it. But I remember my camera guy, Sam, one time, I was toying with letting him kinda handle it, and he posted something for me.
And I called him, and I was like, ‘Man, what are you doing? you put a semicolon in the text. My fans know I don’t what a semicolon is… I still don’t know what it does. It’s a comma with a dot over the top of it. And it’s just about saying things to what you would say them.”
Too funny… I’m not so sure he should be revealing that to all of his female followers, but I have to imagine his DM’s are a wild, yet very amusing, place.
Riley added that he knows fans can tell when something is fake, or not coming directly from him, and he finds a lot of value in keeping that connection with fans and be “hands on” since they’re obviously loving what he’s doing right now as his career continues to explode:
“I think that when fans see a post and it’s very label-esque, you know, it’s very commercialized and very like, ‘Hey y’all,’ I feel like they know. And I feel like you lose engagement when that happens. And me writing a music video that’s very me is just another way, it’s like writing a song… I wrote the song, who better to write a music video for it than me?
So I think there’s a lot of value in doing that, and while I’m having success in my career and fans are showing up and they’re interested in what I’m doing, I’m gonna try to be as hands on as I can.”
I don’t think there are tons of artists at his level who still run their own social media accounts, and honestly, I don’t blame them… but I think
@zachsangshow @Riley Green explains why he still runs his own social media #rileygreen ##tiktok##socialmedia##zachsangshow##fyp ♬ original sound – Zach Sang Show
Riley’s new album is great, and you can check out some of my favorites below.
“Lookout Mountain”
“P.O.S.”
“Beach Happy”
“Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads ft. Brooks & Dunn”
The full interview is available below.
Riley just announced his extensive 2027 That’s Just Me tour, named for the new album, and I have to imagine he’ll be adding more dates at some point too.
That’s Just Me Tour Dates
April 1 – Spokane, Washington
April 2 – Seattle, Washington
April 3 – Eugene, Oregon
April 8 – Edmonton, Alberta
April 9 – Calgary, Alberta
April 10 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
April 29 – Raleigh, North Carolina
April 30 – Knoxville, Tennessee
May 1 – Greenville, South Caroline
May 6 – Fort Worth, Texas
May 7 – Wichita, Kansas
May 8 – Rogers, Arkansas
May 20 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
May 21 – Dallas, Texas
May 22 – Lafayette, Louisiana
June 3 – Brandon, Mississippi
June 4 – Orange Beach, Alabama
June 10 – Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
June 11 – Toronto, Ontario
June 18 – Gilford, New Hampshire
June 25 – Clarkston, Michigan
July 15 – Syracuse, New York
July 16 – Allentown, Pennsylvania
July 22 – Columbia, Maryland
July 23 – Bethel, New York
July 24 – Mansfield, Massachusetts
July 29 – Evansville, Indiana
July 30 – St. Louis, Missouri
July 31 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
