The acoustic just hits different.
Riley Green released a new album That’s Just Me a couple weeks ago, which features a pretty lengthy 19-song tracklist. It also features collaborations with Hannah McFarland, Jake Worthington, Alabama’s Randy Owen, and my personal favorite, Brooks & Dunn.
Riley earned his highest charting album ever and first ever top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, which came in at #3 on the all-genre chart, when the album debuted, and fans have seemed to love the pure country music Riley delivered on this project, which is consistent with the kind of music he’s released since the start of his career.
Riley often plays acoustic versions of some of his songs, as well as country classics, on Instagram, and I’ve always said that he should put out a fully acoustic album because it just fits hist style so well.
There’s just something about the sound of a song that has been stripped back to the bare bones, so to speak, that allows the lyrics and message to really shine, but in order for that to really work, it has to be a fantastic song on its own that doesn’t need all of the bells and whistles to have integrity. If it’s authentic and true to the artist, then acoustic is usually my preferred way to hear it, and many of Riley’s songs certainly fit that description.
Riley is good about putting out a decent amount of acoustic versions of his songs compared to other major mainstream artists, which I certainly appreciate, and just before and since the release of his aforementioned album That’s Just Me, Riley has been putting out acoustic performance video of some of the fan-favorite songs.
From “My Way” to “Bartender in Destin,” two songs that have very different production styles on the album versions, Riley stripped everything down and once again, I feel like he’s at his best when showcasing his songs in this way.
Every time Riley releases any kind of acoustic video like this, I think once again that he should put out a full-length acoustic album one day, but until that day (hopefully) comes, I will be very happy with these types of releases.
All of the songs he’s featured in this little acoustic series, if you will, pass the test in terms of holding up and standing on their own without all of the fancy studio production you hear on the album cuts (not that Riley uses a ton of over-the-top production, because he doesn’t and I love that, but you get the point), and they are even more beautiful when you hear them life this…
You can watch all of the acoustic videos from the That’s Just Me tracklist below.
“My Way”
“Imagine That”
“That’s Just Me”
“Lookout Mountain”
“Bartender In Destin”
Riley recently announced his extensive 2027 That’s Just Me tour, and you can check out the full list of dates below.
That’s Just Me Tour Dates
April 1 – Spokane, Washington
April 2 – Seattle, Washington
April 3 – Eugene, Oregon
April 8 – Edmonton, Alberta
April 9 – Calgary, Alberta
April 10 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
April 29 – Raleigh, North Carolina
April 30 – Knoxville, Tennessee
May 1 – Greenville, South Caroline
May 6 – Fort Worth, Texas
May 7 – Wichita, Kansas
May 8 – Rogers, Arkansas
May 20 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
May 21 – Dallas, Texas
May 22 – Lafayette, Louisiana
June 3 – Brandon, Mississippi
June 4 – Orange Beach, Alabama
June 10 – Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
June 11 – Toronto, Ontario
June 18 – Gilford, New Hampshire
June 25 – Clarkston, Michigan
July 15 – Syracuse, New York
July 16 – Allentown, Pennsylvania
July 22 – Columbia, Maryland
July 23 – Bethel, New York
July 24 – Mansfield, Massachusetts
July 29 – Evansville, Indiana
July 30 – St. Louis, Missouri
July 31 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin