A lot of country artists write their own songs, but few do it as well as Riley Green. Beginning with his 2019 freshman Different ‘Round Here record, on which he wrote all but one of the 14 songs, Green has been proving himself as a talented songwriter. We found four Riley Green songs that prove he is one of this generation’s best songwriters.
“I Wish Grandpas Never Died”
Riley Green penned “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” with Buford Green and Lendon Bonds, releasing it in 2019. The song says in part, “I wish high school home teams never lost / And back road drinking kids never got caught / And I wish the price of gas was low and cotton was high / I wish honky-tonks didn’t have no closing time / And I wish grandpas never died.”
Fans have Brad Paisley to thank for Green releasing the song. Green was on tour with Paisley when Paisley found out about the song, encouraging Green to release it as a single.
“Brad actually did a cover of it on Instagram, which was a really awesome thing for him to do, help out a new artist like me,” Green recalls. “But when you got guys like that … Brad’s got however many hits, that even remotely likes a song that I wrote is a pretty cool thing.”
“Jesus Saves”
“Jesus Saves” isn’t even a single, but it remains a fan favorite. The song is one of four that Riley Green wrote by himself for his 2024 Don’t Mind If I Do record. “Jesus Saves” is about a homeless man, whose life didn’t turn out at all like he expected.
“My daddy left for another woman, moved off to L.A./ My mama fought hard against that cancer, she died when I was eight,” Green sings. “I finished school, my country shipped me off to war / When I came home, my whole world didn’t love me anymore / It’s hard to see all that driving by / So, I just write down ‘Jesus Saves’ ’cause there ain’t no way / I can fit that on a sign.”
“It was me passing the same guy on the same corner in Nashville,” Green tells Holler, sharing the story behind the song. “And just thinking he’s got one little piece of cardboard to try to tell people his story, and why they should stop and hear him out and lend a hand.”
“Damn Good Day to Leave”
“Damn Good Day To Leave”, written by Riley Green along with Erik Dylan, Jonathan Singleton, and Nick Walsh, is on Green’s sophomore album, Ain’t My Last Rodeo. The song is a playful twist on a guy being left by his girlfriend, reminiscent of country songs from decades ago.
“Well, how in the hell can I watch the big game,” Green sings. “Without me having you here to complain / And how am I gonna do anything now / Without you here telling me how / Guess it could be worse, hell, it’s 75 degrees / You picked a damn good day to leave me.”
“Don’t Mind If I Do”
“Don’t Mind If I Do” is another one that Riley Green wrote by himself, as the title track of his latest album. He sings it with Ella Langley, after their No. 1 hit with “You Look Like You Love Me”.
The song says in part, “And I don’t mind if I do / Drink up the nerve to show up at your house / If you wanna know the truth / It’s killin’ me not holding you right now / I’m one memory away from fallin’ all the way apart / ‘Cause I might still love you / Hope you don’t mind if I do.”
“‘Don’t Mind If I Do’ is one that really surprised me with how big a song it became, just because it was such an easy song to write,” Green tells Grammy.com. “It’s a weird thing to write a duet by yourself and write from a female perspective — I love the job Ella [Langley] did on it.
Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images
