Country singer-songwriter Riley Green, born in 1988, has shown that there’s still room for gritty, old-school-leaning sounds in modern country. The public first got a glimpse of the Jacksonville, AL, native in 2016 during his stint on Redneck Island, a CMT reality series. Two years later, he came on strong with his debut single, “There Was This Girl,” mixing ’90s country vibes with a dash of rock ’n’ roll and earning a huge hit his first time out. He stood his stylistic ground on his 2019 debut album, Different ’Round Here, which bore a second big single, the tenderhearted ballad “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.” In 2022, Green teamed up with Thomas Rhett for the chart-topping tune “Half Of Me,” where his shout-out to Alan Jackson showed where his heart lay.