RILEY GREEN FT. ELLA LANGLEY - Don't Mind If I Do - Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment

As “you look like you love me” continues pleading its case as the breakout sensation of 2024, and “Worst Way” is still steadily impacting country radio, on the heels of the recent announcement that his upcoming album Don’t Mind If I Do is coming this October, Riley Green and Ella Langley have now teamed up again to hype anticipation with its title track.

A heart tugging ballad that captures the struggle of moving on amid memories that continue to resurface, “Don’t Mind If I Do” is an emotionally gripped open letter to his ex, weaved together from atop a dusty old barstool while outlined in the glare of a half empty whiskey glass. 

Through acoustic led instrumentation and his unmistakable Alabama drawl, Green accents the wavering cry of his vocal with an appropriately grafted, traditional country vibe that wraps itself around traces of steel guitar to add the instrumental gut punch.

Initially check listing that he’s been doing better in his efforts to not think about her while relaying that he’s almost quit drinking and has finally been getting some sleep, we then see him slowly backsliding one sip at a time as her memory continues haunting him as he pours through his vice in failed efforts to try and numb the pain. 

Admitting that “he might still love her” in the chorus, there’s a starkly drawn emphasis on whether it’s just the whiskey blurring reality or if it’s the cold-hard truth confessing out loud what his conflicted heartbeat is saying:

“And I don't mind if I do

Drink up the nerve to show up at your house

If you wanna know the truth

It's killing me not holding you right now

I'm one memory away

From falling all the way apart

‘Cause I might still love you

I hope you don't mind if I do”

Unlike the consistent back and forth of “you look like you love me,” Langley enhances the atmosphere in a mostly harmony-based role that sees the twosome blending flawlessly to evoke the proper emotional glides to appeal the lyrical depths.

However, her solo response at the end of the song places an exclamation point on her perspective, stamping that she wants him to come over to her house with nothing but the truth so her own broken heart can mend, and they can perhaps pick up the pieces and start over.

Though his catalog is laced in upbeat gems such as “Damn Good Day To Leave” and “Rather Be,” tracing his career trajectory from “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” to “If It Wasn’t For Trucks,” “Jesus Saves,” and now “Don’t Mind If I Do,” Riley Green has positioned himself as the defining connection that’s keeping country music’s foundational ideas prevalent within the landscape of the genre’s modern era.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis/Artwork c/o Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment)