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“But Who Else Is Playing?” – Riley Green’s Grandmother Humbled Him At His First 1,000 Ticket Show
Someone's got to keep you humble.
When fame and fortune come your way, it's essential to keep people in your corner or in your camp who will help keep you humble. Your life is changing drastically, and it's easy for those around you to get wrapped up in this newly found lifestyle or embrace the rock and roll touring rockstar aspect of being a famous musician a little too much.
However, folks are less expected to humble you majorly before fame comes your way. Most of the time, when you are an up-and-coming artist, your friends hype you up to be a little bit bigger than you actually are.
Thankfully (and hilariously), Riley Green's grandmother has been ensuring he never stops touching grass since day one of his career. On his recent appearance on The Viall Files podcast, Riley Green started off his music story by talking about how he got started. The Alabama native says that he never tried to blow up and was content singing cover songs at dive bars for $150 a night and framing houses the rest of the week.
"It was really accidental. I was framing houses during the week, and I'd play on the weekends, and here we are."
Although Riley never felt like he had a "big break moment," he does recall one time when he was asked to play at a larger venue in Alabama. That's when it hit him that his music was being listened to outside of people coming to hear his sets (which included a lot of cover songs at the time) at little dive bars.
"I remember there was a music venue in Birmingham called Iron City, and I was playing at a Mexican restaurant in Jacksonville for $150 every week. And a guy called me and said would you come play here?
And I had just seen Chris Stapleton play there, and it's like 1,300 people, and I was like, 'Nah, dude, it will be empty.' I went down there and we sold like 1,200 or something tickets. I had no idea that anyone knew who I was in Birmingham."
The podcast host, Nick Viall, asked Riley what that moment felt like. That was the first true feeling Riley Green had when he realized that people actually listened to him during these dive bar shows and that they liked what they heard.
"It was cool. My grandparents came. My grandmother, Nancy...we all had dinner there before, and they opened the doors, and all these people came running in. And my grandma said, "Why are all of these people here,' and I said, 'Because I'm playing.' She said, 'Yeah, but who else is playing?'"
Riley, Nick, and his co-host and wife, Natalie, all began laughing, making jokes about how humbling it was for his grandmother to say that to him. It's always the family members to make sure your head doesn't get too big.
Riley's grandmother's words that night must have weighed on him since he seems humble even after blowing up. As one of the hottest stars in country music and the most eligible bachelor, he always seems so happy to talk to whoever during interviews and share his story.
Riley's humble and grateful persona is why fans love him...and the fact he's easy on the eyes helps too.
Check out the whole episode while you're here; this story unfolds within the first few minutes of the interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNecd7aMaME