![Brad Paisley Was Ready to Write His Own ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died’ If Riley Green Didn’t Release His](https://townsquare.media/site/204/files/2019/03/riley-green-brad-paisley.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Brad Paisley Was Ready to Write His Own ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died’ If Riley Green Didn’t Release His
Riley Green's smash-hit single "I Wish Grandpas Never Died" almost sounded completely different thanks to fellow country star Brad Paisley.
The song was a last minute addition onto Green's album, Different ‘Round Here, because of fans' responses to the song —‚ but it wasn't only fans who loved it. Paisley, whom Green was on tour with at the time, also loved the track.
"One really cool thing that kind of was a hint to me that it might be a big song was, Brad comes up to me one night after a show and asked me if I knew who Mike Trout was," Green recounts to his record label, Big Machine Label Group. "And I said, ‘Yeah, the baseball player?’"
"He said, ‘Well, he sent me a text message and asked if you had a recorded version of this song ‘Grandpas’ 'cause he’s tired of watching it on YouTube," Green continues. "And I guess that’s when Brad heard the song for the first time."
Paisley loved "Grandpas," too: Green reveals that Paisley "threatened" to to write a song in the same vein.
"We sat down after a show one day and talked about it, and Brad even made the joke of saying he was gonna write a song called ‘Immortal Grandpas’ and play it at a show," says Green.
Paisley was such a fan of the song, in fact, that the "Mud on the Tires" singer posted a video of him singing "I Wish Grandpas Never Died" on Instagram:
Green, of course, was flattered. "[It] was a really awesome thing for him to do," he says of the cover, "help out a new artist like me."
Keeping the song for himself, though, was a smart decision by Green. "I Wish Grandpas Never Died" is currently in the Top 20.
WATCH: Riley Green's Acoustic "Grandpas" Is So Powerful:
Here's 10 Things You Didn't Know About Riley Green:
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