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There’s more to Riley Green than meets the eye.
On Friday, Aug. 29, the country star released the highly anticipated deluxe version of his 2024 album Don’t Mind If I Do, and now he’s opening up about the six new additions, life on the road for his biggest tour to date — and how he plans to wrap up the year.
“I wrote these handful of songs, and it’s just nice to be able to add to that project because that’s my biggest album by far,” the “There Was This Girl” singer, 36, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Beginning with “Make It Rain,” which he performed live at his shows before its release, Green recalls sitting in his condo in Nashville on a rainy day when the lyrics poured out of him.
“I started playing a little riff, and I just thought, ‘How has somebody not written a country song [with] ‘I Can Make it Rain,'” he says. “It just came together and so simple. There’s something about those old Merle Haggard songs that I grew up listening to that were really simple. They weren’t overly witty, they didn’t try to do too many play on words. It was just telling a story and trying to make you feel some kind of emotion.”
He adds, “This is probably one of my favorite songs on the deluxe, just for that reason. It’s different but it’s still very me.”
On “Cowboy as It Gets” featuring Randy Houser, Green drew a little inspiration from his dad.
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“We didn’t really have cowboys, that western lifestyle that’s gotten so popular from these Yellowstone shows and all this stuff,” he says. “I thought cowboys where I grew up were just guys that were tough, that worked hard, that worked with their hands. My dad built houses his whole life, so I wrote that song about him.”
“I Just Need You” was the result of Green “trying to do something a little different in the verses.” He also got Hannah McFarland, who’s currently on the road with him, to lend her vocals on the track.
“I loved how the chorus just came out a little [Lynyrd] Skynyrd-y,” he says of the song.
Green wrote “What Am I Supposed to Do Now” around the same time as “Don’t Mind If I Do” — and the song explores regret and heartbreak.
“I didn’t figure out what I wanted to do musically with the verses yet, so I just had that chorus that was really hooky in my head,” he says. “And when I finally got around to finishing the song, I was like, ‘Man, I wish I would’ve wrote this a month ago.'”
On “Bet They’re Biting,” Green was influenced by his grandfather Linden’s story of his determination to get out and do what he loved most.
“I remember I was on the road and my Uncle Ty called me. They used to go to this little store called a Green Store every morning before they’d either go fishing or golfing… and his heart was starting to give out on him and he fell going into the store,” he says. “So they rushed to him, got him up, got him sitting in his car and called an ambulance when he got his wits back about him. He said, ‘Well, y’all can cancel the ambulance. I’m going fishing.'”
He continues, “He was like that until he died. He always looked at the bright side of things, and I think it’s an emotional song and maybe even a little bit of a sad topic, but the chorus has got such an uplifting melody that I loved how it turned out.”
On the final track, which pays tribute to country legends, the “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” singer accomplished a childhood dream by getting Willie Nelson to play guitar on the song.
“‘One to Willie’ was one that I’ve loved since the first time I heard it, and I wanted it to be on the record. It got to Willie Nelson’s camp, and he liked the song enough that he played guitar on it, so Willie Nelson’s playing lead guitar on that song in the solo. That was worth waiting around for,” he says.
Following the release of the deluxe album, Green will continue to travel for his Damn Country Music Tour through the end of the year. In between shows, Green likes to get out and do a little thrifting.
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“I like to go to thrift stores, try to find some hidden gems and a little antique store or garage sales,” he says. “I like classic stuff. I like vintage stuff. I mean, I don’t like to go to those places where it’s like a Hank Williams shirt and it’s $100 for a T-shirt. I like to go find something that was, like, somebody’s old shirt they gave to this place. And I look for deals. That’s what I’m looking for.”
As we approach the end of the year, Green — who plays his final show on Dec. 13 — plans to do some “deer hunting” in his farm in Kansas or “go chase some ducks around in Arkansas.”
“Around Thanksgiving I get homesick and want to go down to the farm in Alabama and visit with all the family. So I would like to say, doing as little as possible for about a month or two would be nice this fall,” he says.
Green adds, “I grew up in a really small town outside of Jacksonville, Alabama. And both sets of my grandparents, all four of them, knew each other as kids. They all grew up with in the same area. So I’m really fortunate to be really close to all my family.”
Don’t Mind If I Do (Deluxe) is out now.
