- 6 minutes ago
Riley Green joins Takes Us Out to talk his new album 'That’s Just Me'—and he does it over steak.
From songwriting and tracklist choices to The Voice, duets, and acting, Riley opens up about what’s next.
Riley shares his go-to steakhouse order (ribeye, medium/medium rare), how he cooks steak at home (salt, pepper, butter + a Traeger finish), and why he wanted more “tempo and fun” on the record. He also explains the story behind “Think As You Drunk,” a tribute to Toby Keith made with the blessing of Keith’s family, and names Brooks & Dunn as his dream collab—plus a rapid-fire “Discourse” round you’ll want to hear.
From songwriting and tracklist choices to The Voice, duets, and acting, Riley opens up about what’s next.
Riley shares his go-to steakhouse order (ribeye, medium/medium rare), how he cooks steak at home (salt, pepper, butter + a Traeger finish), and why he wanted more “tempo and fun” on the record. He also explains the story behind “Think As You Drunk,” a tribute to Toby Keith made with the blessing of Keith’s family, and names Brooks & Dunn as his dream collab—plus a rapid-fire “Discourse” round you’ll want to hear.
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MusicTranscript
00:00I don't like hearing my voice. I feel like some people are like that, though.
00:02Like, I don't like hearing myself talk. Like, I probably won't watch this interview.
00:06Yeah, I won't either. So whatever happens here is great.
00:09But we're enjoying it now.
00:10Exactly. We're in the Philly.
00:11Well, hello. How you doing? Good to see you.
00:14Good to see you. Are you ready for some steak?
00:15I'm ready.
00:16Let's go.
00:22What's your go-to, like, steakhouse order?
00:26Ribeye. I was a filet guy for a long time. Now I'm a ribeye. Medium, medium rare with mashed potatoes.
00:31What is it about a steakhouse that you love?
00:34Well, I'm a simple guy, you know? I think I write pretty simple lyrics, very, like, palatable lyrics.
00:41And steak's pretty easy. I can cook my own steak at the house.
00:43Okay, well, how do you make a steak? What's the Riley Green household steak order?
00:48Salt, pepper. I don't do a lot. A little butter. I like to sear it, a good sear on each
00:54side,
00:54and then put it in a tray or a smoker a little bit and kind of slow cook it.
00:59Yeah. Do you do the whole, like, lift the pan and put all the butter?
01:03I try. It just depends on how much time I got, you know?
01:05Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:06You got to use a lot of pots and pans to do that.
01:07You do. You do.
01:08We're going to have a Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail for the gentlemen.
01:11Small, filet medium, kick in the center slice.
01:14Graboid's going to be medium center slice with mashed potatoes and french fries.
01:18Sounds good to me.
01:19That's perfect. And you want a recommendation of wine with that?
01:21Sure.
01:22Absolutely. We have our Smith & Molenski private reserve that I would love to record for you today.
01:26Sounds good to me.
01:27Thanks.
01:28Sign me up. Private reserve. Hello.
01:30Sounds fancy. Better go to the cellar to get that.
01:33Exactly. This is what dreams are actually made of.
01:35Hey, what you mean you gonna cut me off? Just shut up and give me that beer I fall.
01:42Let's talk about this album. I would love to know what was your intention going into making this album?
01:48Is it something you knew you wanted to make or something that just came to you?
01:51I don't know that when you write, when I write songs, I'm always thinking about an album until it's like
01:55time to record an album.
01:56Then you start looking at the songs.
01:57So I'm constantly writing.
01:59Like when we wrote, you know, for Don't Mind If I Do, my last album, you don't really get out
02:03of that creative space.
02:04You know, I continued to write throughout the year and that album came out in October.
02:08So I wrote, you know, most of my songs I write during the holidays when I'm home and off the
02:13road.
02:13So a lot of it is picking the first eight and then going, okay, what else does this album need?
02:20Like what songs does it not have and what direction is it going in?
02:23So it's fun to pick songs for the first half of the album and then you start writing for the
02:29second half.
02:29What was the first eight telling you?
02:31It was telling me that I needed some tempo and some fun songs.
02:34I had a lot of ballads, a lot of slow, lyric driven, sad songs, which is I think what I
02:39tend to write.
02:40It's kind of where I like to live at.
02:41We'd make our love and we'd just lay if I had it my way.
02:48I do that when I'm at home and then I get in Nashville and go, man, I really got to
02:52write some tempos and some fun stuff so people don't want to write around and cry all day.
02:56And you sit down with some writers and you write those kind of songs.
02:59And why this title?
03:00I thought that really kind of told the story of, you know, because I'm doing some acting and, you know,
03:06going to be a coach in the voice and obviously playing to a bigger audience now than I ever have.
03:11It's a great way to introduce myself. This is just me. This is the music that I write. This is,
03:15you know, how I grew up.
03:16But also it says the same thing to people that have been listening to me since day one of like,
03:20I'm still doing what got me here. I'm still writing from the same place.
03:23So in this process of making That's Just Me, what is, what's something that you learned about yourself?
03:28Well, I learned that there's still a lot of value in kind of saving some ideas for myself.
03:35When I have something I know I've got figured out is don't just throw it out in a room when
03:39you got a scheduled ride is to kind of wait until you really have it.
03:43And then I still write a lot of songs by myself, probably more solo rights on this record than any
03:48record I put out.
03:49And that's just because I had a lot of ideas I was fired up about and I happened to be
03:53at the farm by myself away from everybody when I wrote them.
03:55Going into the track list, think as you drunk. And I have to read it.
03:59You said it really well.
04:00Thank you, because I really do. It makes me feel like I'm a little, a little tipsy.
04:05Yeah.
04:05But obviously that is a huge song paying homage to Toby Keith. Tell me about the process of making this
04:11song and then also getting the blessing from his family to record.
04:15Well, I was always a big Toby Keith fan, especially as a songwriter when I found out he wrote so
04:19many of his own songs.
04:20So I didn't go in that day trying to write a Toby Keith song, but when we wrote it, I
04:25remember listening back to it and I thought, man, this is something Toby would have written.
04:27It sounds like something. I sent it to his manager and he played it for the family and I was
04:31fortunate I got to meet all of them when we did a tribute show for Toby.
04:34They loved it. They kind of heard that same thing that I heard in it and they wanted him to
04:38be a part of it somehow.
04:39And we tore it around with a few things and his vocal from I Ain't As Good As I Once
04:43Was was perfect to lay in right there at the end of the song.
04:46So just a great way to kind of tip the cap to a guy that, you know, definitely influenced me
04:51a lot in music.
04:52May not be good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was.
04:59You know, Merle Haggard, Toby Keith, these songwriters, obviously that's a huge part of who you are.
05:05You even said it as you sat down, you were like, I write straight to the point. That's how I
05:08do.
05:08What is the song that you are most proud of on this album that you wrote?
05:12And then also just taking it out to all of your music, a song that you're most proud of and
05:16being like, yeah, pin that.
05:18This album, there's a few songs I really like on this album.
05:21One of them is My Way. I just love how simple that song is.
05:25Sometimes we get a little too songwriter-y and try to make too many play on words.
05:29And that one was just pretty straightforward.
05:31And it made me feel something when I wrote it, which, you know, that's always a good sign for me.
05:36And as far as my total catalog, I mean, there's been a lot of them that are real personal to
05:40me lyrically.
05:41I wish Grandpa's Never Die is one of those that I wrote as a tribute to my granddaddies.
05:44Jesus Saves is a song that I would like a lot if somebody else sang it.
05:48You know what I mean? And that's always a way for me to tell if I like the song.
05:51I was thinking, man, I wish somebody sang this so I could listen to it all the time.
05:54Yeah, do not like, do you...
05:55I don't like hearing my voice. I feel like some people are like that though.
05:59Like, I don't like hearing myself talk. Like, I probably won't watch this interview.
06:02Yeah, I won't either. So whatever happens here is great.
06:05But we're enjoying it now.
06:06Exactly. We're in the public.
06:07But there are songs that I've written that I like.
06:09A lot of times when I write with a co-writer, I'll get them to sing the demo with a
06:12work tape
06:12so I can listen to it, live with it a little while.
06:15I hope other people like listening to it.
06:16Yes, I think they do. Actually, I'm here to tell you, Riley, that they do.
06:19What is the process like when you're writing by yourself versus writing with a collaborator?
06:24How do you differentiate that space for the process?
06:28I think the trick is to not make it much different.
06:31I think keeping it light enough to go like, hey man, let's hang out, catch up, and if we write
06:36something, great.
06:36You're talking about, we're all looking through the voice memos, maybe we've got ideas in the notes app.
06:41But what is the first thing that you put down once you have that idea that perks everybody in the
06:46room up?
06:46What's the first thing that comes in your process?
06:48Well, it's a melody matching an idea.
06:51You know, I've heard people come in with great melodies and we couldn't find a great idea to.
06:56And I've also had people come in with ideas with melodies that didn't match.
07:00And sometimes what you find is that little Frankenstein type songs where like they had this melody and I had
07:06this idea.
07:07And more often than not, I can look at titles in my notes on my phone and go, oh, we
07:11wrote that.
07:11And it's not a title of a song, but it's something that sparked something that started something else.
07:16That's all it is, is just people yapping in a room and throwing stuff out. And those are the best
07:21rides for me is people that are not afraid to just say something really stupid.
07:25And because it could spark something really great.
07:28Yapping is very important. I'm an avid yapper. So it's good to know that you are too.
07:32Yeah, this is going to go really well.
07:34Yeah. So I want to know 19 tracks. Which of the songs do you think are going to be fan
07:40favorites? Which ones do you think are going to be deep cuts?
07:42I think the title track will be one that has a life. That's just me.
07:47Ten Pairs of Boots is another one. That song's got a really great story and a really cool melody.
07:51So I think that one will have a life of its own too.
07:55I mean, it's a great title. I want to know everything about that.
07:59There's something about that too when you have a title that makes people go, what's that song about?
08:02Yeah. And you're like, just go ahead and press play.
08:05Yeah. Last question about the album for now. How do you know when the album is finished? How did you
08:11know when this album was finished?
08:13When you get done recording on the last day you have before it's the last day you can turn in
08:17your album before it's got to be released.
08:19That's how you know. That's how you know it's done.
08:21The great thing about how busy we are right now is we need everything done yesterday.
08:26Yes.
08:26And I don't mind it too much because that's kind of how I operate it a little bit.
08:30I think I write some of my best songs when I'm up against the deadline.
08:33Really?
08:34There's several songs on this record that I wrote days before going to the studio.
08:38And I think that's when you're the most creative when it's kind of out of necessity.
08:42You drive yourself crazy if you just kept on and kept on messing with the song.
08:46So again, I don't like to rush it, but I like to say, all right, this is it.
08:49I'm happy with it and don't touch it.
08:52Yeah, you said Frankenstein earlier. You got to trust the alchemy.
08:55That's right.
08:56You got to trust the science.
08:57That's right.
09:03I was going to stick my nose in it and do the whole thing, but before we have time, yeah.
09:07Do the whole thing.
09:07I figured we had enough time for that.
09:09Yes.
09:10It's also, it's tough to get your nose in there with a mustache like this.
09:13Right.
09:14Yeah, that's great.
09:16Did you?
09:161982, I think.
09:18Yeah.
09:1883 maybe.
09:20Right, right, right.
09:20That's a note of that.
09:21It's a note of 83.
09:22That was a good year.
09:23It was a good year.
09:24Really, really good year.
09:25I wasn't around, but.
09:26No, but I heard about it.
09:27Yeah, I heard about it.
09:28Okay.
09:28So you mentioned this before and please dig in.
09:31No, I was trying to forgot what to do with this.
09:33Go ahead.
09:34I think this is going to take some studying so we can talk while I do it.
09:36Okay, great, great, great.
09:37So you were talking about your song with Hannah McFarlane that has been released.
09:42It's in the world.
09:42It's living.
09:44You performed it recently.
09:45I did.
09:46You did.
09:53What do you think goes into making the perfect duet?
09:55You do a really good duet.
09:57I don't know if you know this about yourself.
09:58Well, yeah.
09:59I've had some success with them for sure.
10:00Yeah, you have.
10:01You have.
10:01I think it starts with a relationship, you know.
10:04There's a lot of duets and features that are done in the boardroom, so to speak, where
10:08this manager calls that manager at this record label.
10:11And I've never done it like that.
10:13I think the biggest songs I've had that are features or duets have been somebody I'm
10:17on the road with, somebody I'm a fan of, somebody that creatively digs what the song
10:22is.
10:23And that's always worked out really well for me, you know.
10:26Ella was on the road with me and we did You Look Like You Love Me.
10:33All right now.
10:34I'd written Don't Mind If I Do and I asked her to come by the studio to sing on it
10:37just
10:38to get a female vocal to make sure the key was right and she crushed it.
10:42So we had that song together.
10:44Hannah has been on the road with me for a year or so now and I played this song for
10:47her
10:47and she really loved it.
10:48So it's great when it works out like that with your friends and also people that you're
10:53a fan of musically.
10:54And then even bigger than that is that we get to tour together and play those songs
10:58on the road which is, you know, that doesn't happen often.
11:00You know, I get to take out Hannah who's first of four on this tour and she gets to come
11:05out and sit on a stool with me and we're on the same level right then.
11:08You know, we're playing that song together and it's our song and it's a cool moment and
11:12it's cool that, you know, as an opener I think she may only get about 15 or 20 minutes
11:16but she gets to come out during one of the biggest moments of my show and sing two songs
11:19with me.
11:20So it's fun to get to do that and it just makes it fun on the road, you know.
11:23Yeah, I mean, I think you said like 120, you could do like 120 shows, you gotta have
11:28fun somehow.
11:29Yeah.
11:30Each night is different and being able to have that moment is nice.
11:33I like being able to surprise my band and surprise other artists that are coming up
11:37and keep them guessing a little bit makes it fun for me.
11:40Do you like pool pranks?
11:41How do you keep it fun on the road?
11:44I entertain myself quite a bit, you know, I get in a rental car and go look for thrift stores
11:49and antique stores and try to find bargains on stuff.
11:52I buy a lot of stuff I don't need out on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.
11:56And, you know, I think that it's just being around a bunch that you get along with and
12:00there's a lot of great musicians in the world but finding people that you can tour with for
12:03a hundred plus days a year, that's a huge part of it.
12:06I got a good bunch on the road, man.
12:08We did an interview, maybe it was like last year, and you took me around your green room
12:13and you have the leg from a Christmas?
12:16The leg lamp.
12:16Yeah, the leg lamp.
12:17Was that what we were thrift find?
12:18That was here.
12:19That was when we played the rooftop show.
12:21Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:21What a cool venue.
12:22I know, it was awesome.
12:23I was trying to figure out where that was at.
12:24Yeah, the leg lamp, you know, that brightens anybody's day.
12:27You're having a bad day and you see the leg lamp in the green room.
12:29Was that a thrift find or was that just like, no, I need this?
12:32Nah, because I don't think you can find like the real leg lamp.
12:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:36It was a remake, but still pretty cool.
12:39I mean, it looks great.
12:41Okay, let's do a little taste of this.
12:43Cheers.
12:43Cheers.
12:44To you.
12:47Oh, that's good stuff.
12:48This is good.
12:48Okay, so duets.
12:50Who would be your dream duet partner?
12:54Okay, well, I'd say a dream collaboration would be Brooks and Don,
12:59which, fittingly, they're on one on this record.
13:02That's one of those chill about moments that don't happen a lot in my career,
13:06but it's, you know, you hear them come in
13:08and he's singing the lyrics to Red Dirt Road at the end.
13:10It's like that was a really cool thing.
13:11Kind of surreal.
13:12That is a huge shrimp, by the way.
13:14This is the smallest one over here.
13:15I got the baby one over here.
13:18Did you call them crawfish when they came out?
13:20Mm-hmm.
13:21You love a crawfish boil, of course, right?
13:24Spicy?
13:24Or you just like butter?
13:25No, it's gotta be spicy.
13:27Some people just like butter.
13:28I'm not one of those people.
13:29I don't trust those people.
13:29That's what I'm saying.
13:30Yeah.
13:30I find it so odd.
13:32That's weird.
13:32Like, it's on the menu of, like, just butter.
13:34I think you should get out.
13:35I don't like to judge, but if you don't put spices on your crawfish, I'm judging you.
13:41I love the butt.
13:42I don't like you.
13:42I love the butt.
13:43Yeah.
13:43I don't like to judge butt, but I am.
13:45I get along with most everybody, but...
13:48If that happens, it's gonna be a rough time for us.
13:50Gotta be fired up now.
13:51Okay, what's your post-show routine?
13:54Steak.
13:55Yes.
13:55And I usually turn the TV on.
13:57I don't like to hear myself eat, you know?
14:00And watch a movie or something until...
14:04Not off?
14:05Yeah.
14:05What are you watching these days?
14:07I watched this weird show, Severance.
14:10Yes.
14:10Severance is major.
14:12I haven't seen it yet.
14:12I like a show that makes you want to watch the next one when you're tired, you know?
14:17Yeah.
14:18Because then you can literally, when you catch yourself falling asleep, that's the best kind
14:20of sleep.
14:20Yeah.
14:21When you're trying to stay awake and you fall asleep.
14:23Yes.
14:23Like, I don't feel that unless I'm watching a show I'm really interested in, or unless I
14:27was trying to read a book that I was supposed to have read a month before when I was
14:30in high school.
14:31I was like...
14:32That night before, I'm trying to read a 300-page book, that's when I was sleeping.
14:35That's the deepest sleep you'll ever have.
14:37Best sleep, yeah.
14:38Also, some of the best sleep is after you wake up in the morning and your alarm goes
14:41off.
14:41Oh, yeah.
14:42I'll tell you a trick I used to do.
14:43When I quit going to college, I would set an alarm for 6 o'clock in the morning just
14:48so I could wake up and know the feeling of being able to go back to bed.
14:51Oh, it's perfect.
14:52Because that's when you're the most tired, is when you've got to get up for work.
14:54Yeah.
14:54So I'd wake up and be like...
14:57You do a little Jedi mind tricks on yourself.
14:59Yeah, on myself, a lot.
15:00Okay, that's...
15:01What other Jedi mind tricks do you have in the arsenal?
15:03Whenever I had like a paper due or assignment when I was in college, I would just go to
15:07the store and if I had a cooler in the back of my truck, I would fill it up with
15:10water
15:10and Gatorade and just drinks for the day tomorrow.
15:13And that would just make me feel like I was going to be fine.
15:16I love that.
15:16It wasn't good for school.
15:17No, absolutely not.
15:18I didn't make it through school because of that.
15:21But it was just like I wouldn't be stressed out.
15:23Yeah.
15:23Talking about that, leaving school, was that like a big moment for you to like just maybe
15:27like bet on yourself and to do something that maybe was a little scary?
15:30No, you make it sound really like poetic.
15:33Like I'm like busted out of school and went and made a music career.
15:35It was nothing like that.
15:36I was playing football and my dad framed houses and he had back surgery and him and his brother
15:44worked together so I took a semester off to go help do construction work and I started
15:50making a little money and I was playing music on the weekends and I just didn't go back.
15:54Yeah.
15:54So I assumed I was going to frame houses for the rest of my life.
15:56And play a little music on the side.
15:58Yeah, and grow a long gray ponytail.
15:59Yeah.
16:00A long gray ponytail?
16:01Which I still might do that.
16:02I think you should.
16:03I think the people would like to see it.
16:04But now I guess you're making music and then me might frame houses on the side.
16:08I doubt it.
16:15Our food is here.
16:16It is.
16:16And we've got a little game to play.
16:18Okay.
16:18It's called Discourse.
16:20So I'm going to ask you a few rapid fire questions.
16:22We're going to get your answers here.
16:24We're going to put you on the spot.
16:25You ready?
16:26Fishing or hunting?
16:27Hunting.
16:28What was your best catch?
16:30Or your best hunt?
16:31Or your best game?
16:33Best catch?
16:33What is it?
16:34What is it?
16:34Well, catch would be like fishing.
16:36Right, right, right.
16:36So then hunting is like game?
16:40I mean kill.
16:41Kill.
16:42Yeah.
16:42What was your best kill?
16:43Okay.
16:44Well you didn't say it all aggressive like that.
16:45Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
16:49I killed a deer in Arkansas with my bow that was the biggest archery deer in Arkansas that
16:55got reported.
16:55It was a big one.
16:56I hunted it for four years.
16:57What?
16:58I was in my duck hunting farm out there so I was fired up about that one.
17:01That's incredible.
17:02Were you like doing the bow like the Odyssey?
17:05Like have you seen the Odyssey yet?
17:06Uh-uh.
17:06Yeah.
17:08It's got to get on like cheap people streaming platforms before I see it.
17:11Wait, what did you just say?
17:13No.
17:13Cheap people?
17:14No, cheap.
17:14Cheap?
17:15Yeah, I can't download all of them, you know?
17:17No, you can actually.
17:18Nah.
17:19You got to get-
17:19Because I can't hardly remember my passwords for anything.
17:22Right.
17:22Okay, that's fair.
17:23And then it tells me I'm logged on too many televisions because I got to do it in every-
17:26Right.
17:27You know what I mean?
17:27Yeah, you got to forget a device each time.
17:28So I got a couple of them and that's it.
17:30Okay, okay.
17:31I'll let you-
17:31When it gets on those, I'll watch it.
17:33I'll give you a pass for that.
17:34Or you can like take a video camera into the movie theater and bootleg it for me.
17:39Hey, that's-
17:39That's what my dad used to do.
17:40Really?
17:41He used to sell them out the trunk.
17:42Yeah.
17:43Yeah.
17:43Can't get in trouble for it now though.
17:44No, absolutely not.
17:45I'll ask him and see if he can get you the Odyssey.
17:47If he can give me that.
17:47It's like shaky and everything.
17:49Of course.
17:49I watched a movie called The Fog like that.
17:50Yeah.
17:51Which is not a good movie to watch on a video camera that was filmed because it was already
17:54kind of fogged the screen.
17:55Yeah, it's called The Fog.
17:56Yeah, so it was just-
17:57You want to be as clear as possible.
17:58I don't even know what happened.
17:59No, it was foggy.
18:00Okay.
18:00Coffee or tea?
18:01Coffee.
18:02Whiskey or wine?
18:04I don't know.
18:04Is it special reserve or what?
18:071892?
18:08No.
18:08Yeah.
18:08Whiskey or wine?
18:10Dang it.
18:11Maybe whiskey.
18:12Whiskey?
18:13Okay.
18:13And what's your idea of a perfect day?
18:16Probably not too eventful.
18:18You know?
18:19I'd probably be waking up at my farm around 11, get some coffee, cook some breakfast, and
18:26ride around, check on everything.
18:27It's kind of a full-time job out there.
18:29There's always something that needs to be done.
18:30Animals all over the place.
18:32And it's just, I like a really, I think the old guy lifestyle really appeals to me.
18:39I'm going to make a really great old guy one day.
18:41I think you will.
18:42Yeah.
18:42Yeah.
18:43Like the grandpa vibe.
18:44Yeah.
18:45100%.
18:45It's very, very important.
18:46It's like a nice, even tone of a day.
18:49What's one way to your heart?
18:51Steak's pretty good.
18:52Steak's pretty good?
18:53Ribot steak's pretty good.
18:54I would say so.
18:55What's the most important thing you learned from your dad that taught you something about
18:59how to be a man, the cowboy, the person that you are?
19:02Pop's still the hardest working guy I've ever met.
19:04And I think that when you're around it all the time, you take it for granted.
19:07But when it's getting out into the world, I realize like, that's something you don't
19:10really see that much anymore.
19:11So, you know, any work ethic that I got, it came from him.
19:14If you could eat one cereal for the rest of your life, what's taking?
19:18The problem is, the one I would choose, my life would probably be short.
19:22You know, like, cinnamon toast crunch, you're not going to live that long if that's all
19:25you eat your whole life.
19:26Right, correct.
19:27But, I do like honey bunches of oats, and for some reason it feels healthier to me
19:30because there's oats in it, and they make it seem like it is.
19:34So, I guess I would, for the longevity sake of it, I'd go with that.
19:37It's a very grandpa answer.
19:39Yeah.
19:39Just so you know.
19:40Well, I'm not getting raisin bran.
19:41That's the most grandpa.
19:42It is the most.
19:43Here's another thing.
19:44If you say raisin bran, you're in the category of people that don't put spices on their shrimp
19:47oil, and I don't like you.
19:49Exactly.
19:49Okay, I'm glad.
19:50Has anybody ever said raisin bran?
19:51I think some people really like it.
19:53That's crazy.
19:54I don't even like raisins.
19:55It's not even the best version of a raisin.
19:57Exactly.
19:57It's like an old one.
19:58It's the driest of raisins.
20:00Remember when you get Special K, and you just like pour sugar on it?
20:04Yes, of course.
20:04And then drink the milk and sugars like this deep at the bottom?
20:07Oh, I miss those days.
20:08I used to like make my own-
20:09That's what we should have done.
20:11That's what we should have done here.
20:12Just pass out with sugar.
20:13Can we get some sugar milk over here?
20:17Yeah, you see this.
20:18So who's your ideal voice ally of all the coaches past, present, and future?
20:23Queen Latifah.
20:24Okay.
20:25Listen, I've been on the show.
20:26Yeah.
20:27Everybody loves Queen Latifah.
20:28Duh.
20:29When we turn our chair and they have to pick what coach they want, everyone in the entire
20:34room chants Queen Latifah.
20:35But sometimes when she's not even turned, they do it.
20:37Like I've been the only one there and they still chant her name.
20:40It's the craziest thing.
20:40I would be one of those.
20:41She's very iconic.
20:42Yeah, she is.
20:43She really is.
20:44The Queen.
20:45Now, we talked a little bit about the voice.
20:46I want to know about what has been the most surprising thing of being on the show.
20:53I know that these days, like you said, they're really, really long.
20:56It's a different vibe than being a singer and a performer.
21:01What has been the biggest surprise to you about this process?
21:05Probably how connected I got with the contestants.
21:12Like how invested emotionally I got in, you know, hearing their stories and after, you
21:17know, seeing what they put in it and how nervous they were and how they had to get over that
21:21and how much family they had there to support them.
21:22I think it kind of takes you back because a lot of the things I've been able to accomplish
21:26the last few years have been somewhat of a blur.
21:29You know, when it's really going, it's, you know, you're kind of all over the place.
21:32And remembering what it was like to be that nervous
21:35and also like putting all your eggs in that basket going like,
21:38I'm going to go give this a try.
21:39That's something pretty special because I never had that moment.
21:42Mine was really gradual and it was a lot of different things.
21:44So people are, you know, nurses are taking off to go try to make it in the voice.
21:49And when you see that, you can't help but kind of pull for them.
21:52So I'm surprised at how involved I've gotten with the contestants
21:56and getting on the creative side of it, helping them find songs for them.
21:59That's been really enjoyable.
22:01Has there been some part of your process that has grown, changed, adapted
22:07since being on The Voice and working with a new group of people?
22:11Process for like how I go about my career or how I go about being a coach with The Voice?
22:16How you go about making music or just maybe even just approaching creative projects.
22:20Well, I mean, yeah.
22:21When you hear somebody that's a singer that's trying to make it and they come on the show
22:24and there's been some that have sang my songs on there.
22:26You know, and even when I'm giving them advice on how to go about phrasing and things like that,
22:32I'm trying to tell them how I do it.
22:35And sometimes it kind of opens your eyes a little bit to, oh, I didn't even realize I do that.
22:38You know, so it's when you hear yourself say things out loud that you don't normally talk about,
22:43you kind of learn a lot about yourself.
22:45What's one thing from past coaches that you wanted to bring into your experience on the show?
22:52And then what's one thing you like didn't want to do?
22:53Well, I know how Blake always gave Adam a hard time, so I definitely wanted to do that.
22:57Yeah.
22:57That was one thing I wanted to bring in, which has been really great.
23:00One thing I didn't want to do, well, I didn't want to be just a country guy.
23:05You know, I want to get all genres on my team and I want to be able to show people
23:09that I grew up listening to all kinds of music
23:11and I can work with some people that are, you know, outside of what I do and help them.
23:16Now that you've done this, what else, how are you evolving?
23:19What are you looking to do next?
23:21I don't know.
23:23I wasn't planning on doing any of this, so I have no clue.
23:26I mean, I'm certainly very interested in the acting part of things.
23:31I really enjoyed that on Marshalls and I've done a couple of things since then,
23:34so I really hope that those opportunities keep coming my way and I can carve out some time to do
23:41it.
23:41I don't know that I could do any more than I'm doing right now with The Voice.
23:44That's kept me pretty busy.
23:46You know, as long as I can still make time to write and tour,
23:51the only thing I think that you've got to make sure that the music doesn't suffer when you're in a
23:55lot of different avenues,
23:56because at the end of the day that is why I'm successful is a songwriting.
24:00So I think that making that a priority and the really good thing about it is I still enjoy that
24:06and it's never felt like work to me writing songs, so I think I would do that regardless.
24:10When I find I do have some time off, I always end up picking a guitar up and trying to
24:15write something.
24:16To acting, I'd love to know what would be your dream role?
24:18I mean, the role of Marshalls was great. It was awesome to play a former Navy SEAL.
24:24You want to get that right when you're playing something like that.
24:26I would love to do like a sports movie remake, maybe like Bull Durham.
24:31It's one of my favorite movies.
24:32Yeah.
24:33Or Varsity Blues.
24:35Well, I like that we're putting it out into the universe. I hope it comes back to you now.
24:39Yeah, I feel like if we said it here, it could happen.
24:41Some director that's just got a bunch of money and a dream just heard us say that.
24:46Yeah, I think they did.
24:47He's like, he's perfect.
24:48Exactly.
24:48You want to be in it?
24:50Duh.
24:50Why do you think I'm here?
24:51So I do think I would be a great cheerleading coach.
24:54I was a cheerleader.
24:55So you're going to be on...
24:56Well, if you're in Varsity Blues, you can't be a cheerleader.
24:58You just got to be a cheerleader.
24:59No, I mean, okay.
25:01You can't.
25:01I can't be the coach.
25:02No, I mean, you might be a great cheerleading coach, but in the movie you're going to have to be
25:06a cheerleader.
25:07Okay, great.
25:08I'll do it.
25:08I've been about it and I'm still about it.
25:10Cool.
25:11Sounds great.
25:11Can't wait.
25:12So casting directors everywhere.
25:15Which camera should I...
25:15Which one's my camera?
25:16It's going to be so cool to cut back this interview when I'm like slow motion dropping back and bittersweet
25:21symphonies playing in the background and I throw a Hail Mary and you're just like, that's cool.
25:25That's great.
25:25And then it just cuts to me eating the shrimp.
25:27Exactly.
25:28It's like we just...
25:29That's why we came here today was to give them a little pitch.
25:32Well, thank you for taking me out.
25:35This is a great place.
25:36I can't wait for these cameras to go off so I can really roll these sleeves up.
25:40Yeah, really get after it.
25:40Really make a name for ourselves in here.
25:42Exactly.
25:42I'm trying to get my picture on the wall.
25:44I want the Riley.
25:44If you eat the steak salmon giant shrimp combo.
25:48Yes, that's you.
25:49You can get a free t-shirt.
25:50The Riley Green.
25:50Tune in next week.
25:51Yeah.
25:52Bye.
25:53Bye.
25:53Bye.
25:54Bye.
25:54Bye.
25:54Bye.
25:54Bye.
25:55Bye.
25:56Bye.
25:56Bye.
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