How Alabama Shaped Riley Green's Musical Identity

I don’t know how anyone could not love this artist known as Mr. Riley Green.

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Now, I have one issue, and that is his allegiance to the university in Auburn, Alabama.

However, outside of that, he may be my favorite current artist in country music.

Now I understand why we hear so often that Riley is back in his hometown in Alabama, and sometimes that means he’s running around with other country superstars.

We’ve heard rumors of Riley being seen all over his Alabama hometown with Megan Moroney, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson.

In an interview with his record label. He spoke about how important his home state of Alabama has been to the success of his career.

Let’s not forget Riley is also an athlete and played quarterback during his days attending Jacksonville State University.

He was also on the reality television hit “Redneck Island” back when that was making waves on CMT.

Here’s what Riley Green said about the importance of getting home to Alabama:

“Yeah, I think that probably for me, from a music business standpoint, it’s hard to have blinders in this town. When you’re so wrapped up in charts and awards and those type of things, it’s so easy to start looking at what somebody else is doing that’s having success.

And for me, every bit of success that I had came from that small town in Alabama. It came from me playin’ in bars down there, writin’ songs, and playin’ ‘em for people down there. And it’s definitely very helpful to my career, inspiration-wise, to be in that place mentally. And then when you’re on the road, you know, you can almost forget what home feels like, what my grandmother’s house smells like, you know? So, it’s nice to go back every once in a while and kind of be reminded of that inspiration.”

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Gallery Credit: Kaiya Shunyata