The pair team for the fiery new tune
Two Alabama powerhouses unite on “Smoke,” a new song performed by Jamey Johnson and Riley Green and co-written with Erik Dylan. Johnson and Green’s newest track explores the different creations of smoke, from anger and cars to gravel and cigarettes.
“It was Riley’s idea,” Johnson says of the song. “He called me and we booked some time to get together with Erik Dylan. We sat down and scribbled it out over the course of about an hour.
“It has an interesting sound to it, with one part going down while the other part is going up. I like the whole concept of this guy not being too upset about whatever she is mad at. That smoke probably has a lot to do with it.”
Written with Erik Dylan, Green and Johnson recorded “Smoke” at The Cash Cabin and Big Gassed Studios. “Smoke” is produced by Kyle Lehning and Jim “Moose” Brown and recorded/mixed by T.W. Cargile. Although Johnson previously worked with Lehning on a Randy Travis tribute record, this was the first time the two worked together from start to finish on one of his songs.
“It was just a blast getting to write with Riley and Erik and a great song to get to record with Kyle and Moose at the helm,” Johnson says.
Johnson and Green attended the same college, Jacksonville State, and share a deep love of Alabama and its people. “There’s a natural connection with us there,” Johnson says. “I was immediately impressed with his writing and singing.”
Although the good friends have performed live and played golf together, “Smoke” marks the first recording they have created together. Green and Johnson share a love of music and lots of laughter when they are in the same room.
“Writing this song with Jamey was a lot of fun,” Green shares. “After spending time on the road together earlier this year, it just felt natural to get in the studio and make some country music together.”
Green and Johnson have appeared together at places such as Losers Bar and Grill in Nashville, the Windy City Smokeout, Green’s Buford Bonds Foundation Golf Tournament and Regions Celebrity Golf Tournament and have performed duets together, such as Johnson’s “In Color” and “High Cost of Living.” Videos capturing the two teasing each other while golfing have become popular online. Johnson also joins Green’s Damn Country Music Tour for nine dates in November.
“One of my favorite things about Riley is his sense of humor, and he can take it as much as he dishes it out, so that’s why we are always hurling comments at each other,” Johnson says. “Recently, when one of the videos caught some traction, I felt bad about it. You don’t hear him giving me crap. You just hear me messing with him and it’s not a good look, so I had to call and apologize for that!”
Johnson jokes that he needs to apologize again to Green, this time for recording the song that was Riley’s idea, soon after it was written. “I guess I should have talked to him before I ran into the studio and recorded it,” he says. “But I did what I did! I called and said, ‘Hey, where are you? I just recorded it.’ If he was thinking about recording it and putting it on his record, I guess I ruined that! My apologies to Riley Green.
“I am usually the guy that is pretty safe to write with because for 14 years I didn’t put anything out. Nobody had any indication that I would be running to the studio. Unfortunately for Riley, I had a studio session booked the next week, so we definitely grabbed ‘Smoke’ and went to work on it. I probably owe Riley a song!”
The song’s all-star band includes Jim “Moose” Brown on acoustic guitar and B-3 organ, Bobby Terry on steel and acoustic guitar, Shawn Camp on acoustic guitar, Larry Paxton on bass, Greg Marrow on drums, James Mitchell on electric guitar, Eric Darken on percussion and Wyatt Beard adding background vocals.
