Riley Green‘s got jokes.

The Alabama native is coming in an incredible 2025, has been on the road nonstop for his Damn Country Music Tour, and still has a handful of shows left before it wraps up at the end of the year.

Outside of his hectic tour schedule, he’s still finding time ot have some fun on stage. He recently played a show at Nashville’s famed Losers Bar & Grill, which is next door to his bar, the Duckblind, for their birthday bash.

And the year is far from over because Riley Green is up for 4 CMA Awards from the success of his duets with Ella Langley, “You Look Like You Love Me” and “Don’t Mind If I Do.” The duo already scored one CMA Award at last year’s show for Musical Event of the Year with “You Look Like You Love Me,” and the viral success of that song has carried into this year as well.

Riley Green knows how to do a duet well, and this year he also released duets with Randy Houser, Hannah McFarland, and Luke Bryan. While Riley Green is stellar on his own, it’s always fun to hear how different artists’ voices pair and the storylines they curate when they write and record a duet.

And it sounds like Riley Green hopes that there are many more duets for him in the future. Earlier this year, during an event at the GRAMMY Museum, Riley Green participated in a panel-style interview, during which his dream duet partner was discussed.

Naturally, Green’s answer included some heavy-hitting names. When asked who his dream collaboration was, Riley Green shared that he would love to sing with or work with George Strait or Alan Jackson.

“Just, you know, The King, George Strait, I guess that’d be pretty good. Or I’d settle for Alan Jackson if I had to. Either one of them would be fine.”

The slight joke in his answer makes the audience chuckle, but it also shows his deep reverence for the greats who have heavily shaped the genre he calls home. Although Green admitted that his favorite country song of all time is AJ’s “Here In The Real World,” he favors the idea of working with The King a tiny bit more.

When the panel host asked why that hasn’t happened yet, given Green’s sound leans toward the more traditional end of the spectrum, Green had a very hilarious (and probably accurate) response:

“I think the problem is, has he thought about it? You know what I mean? I’ve thought about it a lot. When he starts thinking about it, that’s when it’ll happen.”

HA. Nothing like a bit of self-deprecation.

After putting himself down a little bit, Riley Green recovers and shares how much he respects both Strait and Jackson’s career, and that he hopes to have a fraction of the success they’ve had:

“I’m just such a big fan of those guys, and when you think about it from my point of view, I’m fairly early in my career, even though I’ve been doing it a while.

When you’ve done it as long as they have, that really says a lot, because this is a grueling lifestyle. You know? You’ve got to really love it to do it for that amount of time.”

Green then candidly admits he’s not sure he can see himself touring and being on the road for as long as Strait and Jackson have, but he hopes the future holds a long career for him, no matter what that looks like.

“I hope that I can write songs that people relate to. If I can keep writing songs that people feel something from listening to, I think I’ll do it as long as I can do that.”

Amen to that. At this rate, it’s safe to bet that Riley Green will be in the limelight for the foreseeable future.

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