At first glance, Riley Green‘s latest hit, “If It Wasn’t for Trucks,” might seem like just another ode to country’s favorite vehicle for riding backroads, throwing tailgate parties, and hauling hay.
But for the Alabama native, it hits much closer to home than that.
“The whole song is really personal,” Riley reveals. “And talking about when my granddaddy died, and ‘where would I have first heard Merle [Haggard],’ the line about ‘where was I supposed to cry.'”
“You didn’t cry in front of anybody,” he explains. “You pulled off in your truck somewhere if you were gonna do it.”
“And I love the line, ‘how would anybody’s daddy get around,'” he goes on. “That thought to me is pretty cool to go, ‘Everybody’s dad drives a truck. What would they do if there weren’t trucks?’ They’d have to walk everywhere, because nobody’s dad drives a car.”
While Riley freely admits it’s almost impossible to come up with an entirely new idea, he maintains it’s the execution that can really make a song special.
“Everything’s probably been said. Anything you can ever say, any idea’s probably been written in one of the eight billion country songs that are out there,” Riley points out. “But finding a cool way to say it and finding a personal way to say it, I think is what makes a song stick out, in my mind.”
Right now, Riley’s busy with the Beers on Me Tour with Dierks Bentley and Parker McCollum.
“If It Wasn’t for Trucks” is the title track of Riley’s 2020 EP, and is also included on his new collection, Behind the Bar.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
