Riley Green captured country music listeners’ hearts last year with the viral Ella Langley duet “You Look Like You Love Me.” Now, he is gearing up for his eagerly-anticipated Damn Country Music Tour. Along with a plethora of high-energy opening acts, the “Worst Way” crooner will grace arenas across the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. With the tour set to kick off March 27, Green, 36, recently took advantage of some downtime to cover a ’90s country favorite.
Watch Riley Green Perform Travis Tritt’s 1991 Hit
In a video posted to social media March 19, Riley Green delivered a flawless acoustic rendition of Travis Tritt’s 1991 ballad “Drift Off to Dream.” The mid-tempo waltz, told from the perspective of a man imagining tender encounters with a hypothetical lover, hit airwaves in January 1991 as the fifth and final single from Tritt’s debut album, Country Club. Peaking at No. 3 on the U.S. charts, “Drift Off to Dream” gave Tritt his third No. 1 hit in Canada.
Closing his eyes, Green sings softly, And you’ll feel the passion as time after time / I press your sweet lips to mine / We can dance to the radio, right up ’til dawn / ‘Til you drift off to dream in my arms.
In the comments, one bemused listener wondered, “How does his voice sound better when you can see him?” Another added, “We need an album of all 90’s covers asap. Thanks!”
What Green Would Tell His Younger Self
As “Worst Way” climbs the charts and his arena tour draws near, Riley Green recently reflected on all he’s learned so far in the music industry. And he isn’t entirely certain that he would have advised his younger self to do anything differently.
“There was a rough patch there in my early 20s when you couldn’t really tell me anything,” said the “There Was This Girl” singer. “So, I don’t know if I would have listened anyway.”
He continued, “But as far as the music thing goes, there’s been a lot of things that I sort of had to learn the hard way comin’ through. But you know, I don’t know how much I would change. I’d probably just tell him to write as many songs as he could and play the guitar every night before you go to sleep. Maybe concentrate less on sports, ’cause that didn’t really take me as far as the guitar has. But I’ve had a great career to this point, and I’ve got a lot of opportunity comin’ up. So I don’t know if I changed too much.”
