This Week’s Guest Host: Riley Green

This week's guest host on Shawn Parr's Backstage Country is Riley Green! The country hitmaker joins us all week to celebrate the release of his brand new album, Ain't My Last Rodeo, an upcoming tour, and so much more.

Green released his 12-track project on Friday (October 13) and one this is for sure, it's undeniably country. Ain't My Last Rodeo includes his current single "Different 'Round Here" featuring Luke Combs and a brand new collaboration with Jelly Roll, "Copenhagen In A Cadillac."

The multi-platinum singer-songwriter will hit the road starting in February for his headlining 2024 Ain't My Last Rodeo Tour. Green has enlisted Tracey Lawrence to support him across select dates and Ella Langley across all dates.

“Ain’t My Last Rodeo is inspired by what I know best: hard work, life outdoors and family and it’s going to be fun adding these new songs to our full set,” says Green.

Green has had major success since being named the 2020 ACM winner of the New Artist of the Year. His 2018 release of "There Was This Girl" became a No. 1 platinum hit, and the personal track, “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” has since gone 2x-platinum.

Not only does Green have a full week ahead as our guest on Backstage Country, but he will also celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday on Wednesday (October 18).

"Riley’s much anticipated new album, “Ain’t My Last Rodeo”, dropped this past Friday!! We’re super excited to have him in the studio this week to talk about the NEW songs AND other past favorites we all love," Parr posted to Instagram.

Check back all week for more from Riley Green Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country. For more information, visit rileygreenmusic.com and follow Riley Green on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to see more.

Riley Green is going out on a headlining tour after spending the summer opening stadium shows for Luke Combs. He just announced his new album, due out in October. His first success in country music came in 2018 with his single "There Was This Girl," and he released an album on Big Machine Records, Different' Round Here, in September 2019.

Green is a country boy raised in Jacksonville, Alabama, and his songs often reflect the influences of his life growing up in a small town in the South. He is known by the nickname "Duckman," which he got due to his love of duck hunting.

Riley told us recently that traveling around the country is a plus for a hunter like himself. He said, "My favorite thing about huntin' in general is goin' somewhere that you would never go otherwise. That's the one thing I like about playin' music, too. I tell my buddies all the time, like we ended up in Silas, Alabama, down at this little hole in the wall bar and riding home, I was like, 'Man, you know, we would never see half the stuff we see if it wasn't for me playin' music.' And hunting's the same way."

He added, "It's a different thing to go do than sittin' on the couch watchin' TV or going to a ball game or anything else, to go out and get in the woods and watch the sun come up. I enjoy that part of gettin' out and doin' somethin' that's a little bit different."

In fact, he and Thomas Rhett went duck hunting before they recorded their #1 song, "Half of Me," together. Green told us in the same interview that before he joined Thomas on the duet, he spent a lot of time with Thomas' dad, Rhett Akins. "Before I even knew Thomas, I'd written with Rhett quite a bit. Obviously, he's a big hunter/outdoorsman, so we hit it off. I think the first time we wrote, we talked about hunting for two hours and didn't even write a song."

He added, "And then, I ran into Thomas at an awards show, and he mentioned he wanted to go duck huntin'. I hadn't ever been, and I guess I was the guy. It was pretty natural for us. We like a lot of the same stuff, and I think a lot of great stories and great songs come from a huntin' camp."