Riley Green Says He’s Not Bothered By “Redneck” Stereotype, But There’s Probably “Nicer Terms” To Describe Him

Not bothered at all.

Riley Green released of the deluxe edition of his 2024 album Don’t Mind If I Do album earlier this year, and during an appearance on the Zach Sang Show a little while back, he talked about the music, his dating life, dating apps… and what he thinks might be an underground dating website. That’s a wild theory you can read about here.

Of course, he’s had a busy year on the road touring as well, and he was also just named the People’s choice 2025 “Sexiest Country Star,” to the surprise of absolutely no one…

But Riley is just a simple country boy at heart, even though he’s sold out shows all over the world and won some of the country industry’s biggest awards, and he grew up in the small town of Jacksonville, Alabama, and actually played college football at Jacksonville State before eventually pursuing a country music career later on.

So when Zach asked Riley about how he feels about being stereotyped as a “redneck” by outsiders or people who only think of country music as cliché, Riley had a great response, saying there might be “nicer terms,” but it doesn’t bother him at all.

He explained that he always viewed that term as someone who grew up in the country, similar to the way he did…

In fact, to some of his family, Riley says he was viewed as a “city boy,” which is funny but also to most of us, sounds pretty outrageous because I see Riley as a country boy through and through:

“There’s probably nicer terms. But for me, redneck was just somebody that grew up out in the country and what you did for fun was probably not the same as somebody, I guess you could call a city clicker, would be the opposite of that.

I lived in Jacksonville, Alabama, which is a tiny town, and my whole family is from Williams community, Pleasant Valley, which is right outside of Jacksonville, eight miles. And they would say I was city, because we had a Walmart and a Johnson’s and a Waffle House, so we were big time.”

What more could you really need, right?

The simple life…

And the answer to this question is really that simple too. You can watch the clip here:

@zachsangshow @Riley Green on whether being called or redneck is an insult or not #rileygreen #redneck #country ##zachsangshow##fyp ♬ original sound – Zach Sang Show

The full podcast is available below.

Riley will hit the road again in 2026 for his extensive Cowboy As Is Gets Tour.

Cowboy As It Gets 2026 Tour Dates:

April 16th, 2026 – Southaven, MS – Landers Center#~$

April 17th, 2026 – Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center#~$ *ON SALE 10/3

April 18th, 2026 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena#~$

May 7th, 2026 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion#~•

May 8th, 2026 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre#~•

June 18th, 2026 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center#~•

June 19th, 2026 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center#~•

June 20th, 2026 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater#~•

June 25th, 2026 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center#$*

June 26th, 2026 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake#$*

July 16th, 2026 – Green Bay, WI – Resch Center#~•

July 23rd, 2026 – Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre#~•

August 6th, 2026 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater#/•

August 7th, 2026 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center#/•

August 8th, 2026 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live#/•

August 13th, 2026 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion#/•

August 14th, 2026 – Hartford, CT – The XFINITY Theatre#/•

August 15th, 2026 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheatre#/•

August 21st, 2026 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford#$*^

August 22nd, 2026 – Grand Forks, ND – Ralph Engelstad Arena#$*^

#Justin Moore

~Drake White

$Mackenzie Carpenter

•Hannah McFarland

*Adam Hood

/Zach John KingThe post Riley Green Says He’s Not Bothered By “Redneck” Stereotype, But There’s Probably “Nicer Terms” To Describe Him first appeared on Whiskey Riff.