When you listen to Riley Green’s music, like his debut single, “There Was This Girl,” and the other songs on his In A Truck Right Now EP, you get that he’s a simple country guy from the south who loves his family. Growing up, Riley had a pretty idyllic life. He says, “I grew up in Jacksonville (Alabama). Went to Jacksonville high school, played football, baseball, basketball. Went to Jacksonville State, tried to play football.”
Besides being the all-American athlete growing up, Riley knows that one of his biggest blessings was living close to and being surrounded by his family. He says, “My entire family lives 10 minutes down the road in Pleasant Valley, a little community out there, and both sets of my grandparents were alive for most of my life. My great grandmother’s still alive. So I mean I was really lucky in having a lot of family right there that a lot of people don’t have.”
One of Riley’s grandfathers instilled his love of music into him and the other shared his passion for the love of the great outdoors and he says, “In that sense I had a, probably a better childhood than a lot of folks. I had a lot of family members that some people don’t really have a relationship with.”
Riley is still very close to his family and makes a point to get home every chance he gets. Fortunately, Jacksonville is only about three and a half hours south of Nashville, so Riley gets there pretty frequently.
Riley Green – life growing up :36
“I grew up in Jacksonville. Went to Jacksonville high school, played football, baseball, basketball. Went to Jacksonville State, tried to play football. My entire family lives 10 minutes down the road in Pleasant Valley, a little community out there, and both sets of my grandparents were alive for most of my life. My great grandmother’s still alive. So I mean I was really lucky in having a lot of family right there that a lot of people don’t have. I had a relationship with both my grandparents, both sets of them. My Granddad Buford was the one that kind of got me going in music, and my Granddad Lennon—fished, golfed every day, and he was who I spent most summers with, you know. So in that sense I had a probably a better childhood than a lot of folks. I had a lot of family members that some people don’t really have a relationship with.”