Riley Green Explores Ballads, Honky-Tonk and Traditional Country on That’s Just Me

Riley Green's That's Just Me is a collection of 19 songs that highlights his traditional country sound alongside songwriting that reflects on heartbreak, relationships, small-town life and personal reflection. The album brings together different sides of Riley Green's music with songs like "My Way," "Go Again," "Well Well Whiskey," and "Ten Pairs of Boots" showcasing how different ideas are explored through the use of softer guitar, fiddle, banjo, harmonica and vocal collaborations. Across the album, there's a contrast present between more reflective feeling ballads, lighter beach-influenced tracks and songs that encompass that honky-tonk and older country influence; all of which gives That's Just Me a wider musical range while ensuring that the production places strong emphasis on Riley Green's vocals and storytelling across each song.

The Way Different Country Styles Are Present Across That’s Just Me

Riley Green uses softer acoustic production across That's Just Me as a key part of the album, since several of the early songs maintain a central focus of guitar and vocals while also allowing the storytelling to highlight the emotional weight of the songs. In "My Way", the track uses this approach in the opening where a restrained country arrangement can be heard, while the production remains simple enough for Riley Green's warmer and more reflective vocals to come through. The song keeps that softer direction throughout without pushing towards a larger instrumental build, and this works very well since the lyrics focus a lot about heartbreak and longing which helps those feelings come through stronger. "Imagine That" takes on a similar approach, as there's a more laidback acoustic sound that can be heard where the guitar is the key focus while Riley Green's vocals have a more yearning tone to it. The production feels relatively light as the song places emphasis on two people who have never fully gotten over each other, allowing that sense of longing to come through easily without the arrangement becoming overly full. There's also a strong emphasis on the vocal delivery in this track since the softer instrumentation allows the lyrics more space to be heard, while also maintaining the emotional direction of the song as one consistent feeling from beginning to end.

There's also a stronger traditional country direction heard across the album in songs like "Well Well Whiskey," "Runs In The Family," and "P.O.S," where instruments like harmonica, banjo, fiddle and guitar start to feel more noticeable across the production. "Well Well Whiskey" highlights this perfectly since the track begins with harmonica elements and takes on a more honky-tonk feeling, with Jake Worthington's rougher and more rugged vocal tone creating a contrast against Riley Green's smoother vocal delivery. The difference between that vocal style gives the song more personality, with the instrumentation maintaining that stronger country influence throughout the track. "Runs In The Family" takes the sound into a different direction as the banjo is brought into the production to accompany the more retro country and country rock feeling that can be heard, making the song feel more playful and light compared to the heavier heartbreak tracks heard earlier in the album. "P.O.S." adds to that stronger traditional country approach since it incorporates fiddle and guitar elements alongside sharper instrumentation work while Riley Green's vocals come across as sounding more defiant. Across these songs, the intention to incorporate harmonica, banjo, fiddle and stronger guitar notes highlights how That's Just Me has a different musical side, and shows how the album drifts away from relying just on softer acoustic production and slower ballads.

The Role of Vocal Collaborations Across That’s Just Me

That's Just Me also incorporates different vocal collaborations that makes each song feel varied, since the featured artists bring in their own vocal talents and tone while also working alongside Riley Green's vocal delivery. "Go Again" shows this clearly since Hannah McFarland's lighter vocals are layered alongside Riley Green's deeper tone, with soft guitar-led production being the foundation of the track. Their voices can be heard as being noticeably different to one another, but the contrast works to highlight the slower direction of the song and that back-and-forth feeling in the lyrics feels very natural.

"Pave All Them Red Dirt Roads" incorporates vocal collaborations in a more direct way since Brooks & Dunn's vocals can be heard during the bridge, where they even reference their song "Red Dirt Road" in a section. This makes the track feel strongly connected to Brooks & Dunn's earlier country sound, with Riley Green still staying the central vocal focus for most of the track. "Lookout Mountain" highlights Randy Owen's vocals in a different way since his vocal tone is similar to that of Riley Green's, with the two singers' vocals blending more evenly across the song. As a result, the collaboration feels more connected to the song while also supporting the slower and more reflective country direction heard throughout the track.

Check out the album below and you can stay in loop with Riley on Instagram here.