Riley Green at CMA Fest 2024

Riley Green is keeping the good times rolling on his 2024 Ain’t My Last Rodeo Tour, most recently by surprising his fans with special guest, John Daly, on stage. The pro golfing legend hopped on stage with Green during a show earlier this month in Iowa and sang, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” until Green says he physically had to pull Daly off the stage. “He’s a character,” Green told Audacy’s Katie Neal during his CMA Fest interview at Nashville’s Hard Rock Cafe. “It’s hard to bring somebody like that out on stage because his personality is so much bigger than mine — he almost enjoys it more than me so it’s hard to drag him back off the stage. [He was out there] as long as I’d let him be. I had to physically go and get the mic from him.” While Daly brought a new energy to Riley’s show, the good times didn’t stop there for fans as they also got to hear Green’s new single, “Damn Good Day to Leave,” which he describes as a “fun break-up song.” According to Green, there’s a lot more where that came from as he is already working on music for a new album he hopes to release in the fall. That would be only one year since the release of his latest album, Ain’t My Last Rodeo. “I’m in the studio, constantly writing and we’re recording some new music. I’m going to try and put out another album later this year,” he shared. “I don’t see why not. While people are listening we’re gonna try to keep ‘em listening.” The 35-year-old says he’s been paying close attention to fan reactions on the road when it comes to different songs and is doing his best to write more of what he thinks the fans will love. “I don’t think there’s any better teacher for a songwriter than fans,” he said. “Seeing the reactions and being out on tour — seeing what songs are really resonating. I took that knowledge and tried to write the next album to be a lot of what people seemed to like.” Hear more about what to expect from the new album and stories from his current tour by checking out Riley Green’s entire interview with Audacy’s Katie Neal from CMA Fest above. Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal