EXCLUSIVE: Riley Green Reveals the Doubt Behind “Worst Way,” and the Rule He Won’t Break for His New Album In New Spotify Interview
- All Country News
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
All Country News has your exclusive first look at Green’s conversation with Pat McAfee before the full interview drops tomorrow on Spotify.
Riley Green remembers having a question after writing the song that would become one of the biggest moments of his career.
“Man, is this okay?”
The song was “Worst Way.” And in a new conversation with friend, football personality, and music enthusiast Pat McAfee, Green admits that stepping outside his comfort zone didn’t initially feel like a sure thing.
All Country News has your exclusive first look at the interview ahead of its release tomorrow on Spotify. With his new album, That’s Just Me, at the center of the conversation, Green explains how he’s approaching his next chapter—and why some of the most important work still happens back home in Alabama.
The “Worst Way” Gamble That Paid Off
For fans, “Worst Way” became a defining Riley Green song. For the man who wrote it, it represented unfamiliar territory.
“Every record, I want to try to push myself musically a little bit into something that I’m not necessarily comfortable with,” Green tells McAfee.
Reflecting on his initial uncertainty about “Worst Way,” he adds, “I hadn’t really written a love song… and I remember writing it and I thought, man, is this okay? Big song for me.”
That experience has carried into That’s Just Me.
“So musically, I tried to do some things that were a little out of my comfort zone on this record.”
It’s a revealing glimpse into the decision-making behind the music: even after years of writing and performing, Green can still finish a song and wonder whether he should go there. This time, he has a pretty convincing reason to trust that feeling.
Why Alabama Still Gets a Say in Every Record
Green may be pushing himself musically, but his hometown remains part of the writing process.
“I always tend to make sure I find a way to write from that same place that got me here, which is a small town in Alabama where I grew up,” he explains. “So I always try to go home and write, you know, at least 4 or 5 songs going to be on every record from that mindset of just how I grew up and my family values.”
For Green, going home is a creative habit. It puts him back around the people, places, and perspective that shaped his songs in the first place.
That connection becomes especially vivid when he discusses one of his favorite tracks on the new album.
The Personal Detail Behind “Lookout Mountain”
“‘Lookout Mountain’ is one of my favorite songs on the record,” Green shares, revealing that Alabama’s Randy Owen appears on the track.
But beyond the feature, there’s a specific stretch of road that makes the song personal.
Green points to a lyric about passing the last place to turn around, connecting it to the drive from Nashville to his hometown of Jacksonville, Alabama.
“I think about that drive from Nashville to Jacksonville, Alabama where I’m from, going through Lookout Mountain, and there’s 20 miles where there’s not a place to turn around,” he says. “So if you miss an exit, you’re just stuck.”
A detail another driver might forget becomes the part of a song Green holds closest.
“Such a personal, something I’ve been through in life lyric to me.”
You don’t have to know that road to recognize the feeling of missing your chance to turn back. Knowing where the image came from makes it hit a little harder.
The Person Green Thinks About Before Taking the Stage
When McAfee asks about his approach, Green makes clear that the audience factors into far more than the live show.
“I look at everything I do in my career as a fan. What would I want to see my favorite artist do?”
That means thinking carefully about the person who worked to be in the room.
“It’s not necessarily the songs I want to play, it’s what does somebody that bought that ticket, that saved up, that works a construction job, what do they want to see me do?”
The same question follows him into the studio. Green loves sad country songs and detailed storytelling, but he also wants room for the easygoing tracks that make a crowd raise a beer.
His own listening preferences help explain the balance.
“I love really visual things and I also love really simple things,” he says. “I love a guitar lick that’s really recognizable to start with, and I love a song that’s really stripped down and raw, not overly produced.”
With That’s Just Me, Green is giving himself room to stretch while keeping those instincts close. And if his hesitation over “Worst Way” tells us anything, the songs that make him a little nervous deserve our attention.
Watch for Riley Green’s full conversation with Pat McAfee, dropping tomorrow on Spotify.
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