When Riley Green was first starting out, he used to play anywhere he could, including empty bars or restaurants where people were not really paying attention to him while they were eating. Riley says, “I mean, I could remember a lot of times when you first sit down, that first time you strum the guitar people kind of look up even if it’s at a bar and grill. They’re eating or whatever, they’ll look up and kind of pay attention.”
A lot of artists in those situation play cover songs to get people’s attention or to try and get them to listen, and Riley played some covers, but he says, “I wrote songs that were … maybe some had a little bit of humor in them. You know something like that and I played covers that were a little different. And actually, ‘Bury Me In Dixie’ was almost like cheating because that song, the first line Mount Cheaha, the people were like, ‘He’s singing about Mount Cheaha,’ you know, and the Coosa River and it just … from the first time I played that song I knew I kind of stumbled upon something to where after somebody had heard that song one time, when they came to see me play again, even without having anything recorded or out, they were still waiting to hear that song. You know that’s a tool that a lot of people playing cover shows don’t have, is an original song that acts like a cover song.”
These days Riley is getting people’s attention with his own original music, like his latest single, “In Love by Now.”
Riley Green – winning over fans with original music :40
“I mean, I could remember a lot of times when you first sit down, that first time you strum the guitar people kind of look up even if it’s at a bar and grill. They’re eating or whatever, they’ll look up and kind of pay attention. You can sneak a cover in then. But I wrote songs that were … maybe some had a little bit of humor in them. You know something like that and I played covers that were a little different. And actually, ‘Bury Me In Dixie’ was almost like cheating because that song, the first line Mt. Cheaha, the people were like, ‘He’s singing about Mt. Cheaha,’ you know and the Coosa River and it just, from the first time I played that song I knew I kind of stumbled upon something to where after somebody had heard that song one time when they came to see me play again even without having anything recorded or out they were still waiting hear that song. You know that’s a tool that a lot of people playing cover shows don’t have is an original song that acts like a cover song.”