Riley Green and Ella Langley are very good solo artists. They could be a generational country duo.
As “You Look Like You Love Me” raced up the charts this summer Green/Langley quietly dropped “Don’t Mind If I Do” off at Green’s digital platforms. Then, this week they performed the ballad on The Voice, and it was like discovering how moving their harmonies can be all over again.
Lyrically, this is the far more interesting of the two songs. “You Look Like You Love Me” clocked in at No. 6 on ToC’s Top 40 Country Songs of 2024, but so much of that was because of their chemistry and that irresistible hook.
Related: Riley Green Reveals 2025 Tour, Featuring Ella Langley
The song tells the story of two ex-lovers inching closer and closer together, like a slow high tide pulls the surf across the sand. Each vocalist’s performance is extraordinary, and the song’s structure allows so much more room for interpretation.
Once upon a time, Vocal Duo of the Year Awards were given to two soloists who came together for a song or two. Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn epitomized this, but others like Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge were important.
The Judds stopped all that when they won their first CMA in the category, and since 1987, it’s been nothing but full-time duos. If two competing record labels can get together and submit this pair they’ll win next November, if not at the ACM Awards.
Riley Green, Ella Langley, “Don’t Mind If I Do” Lyrics:
(Green)
I’ve been doin’ better / I hardly ever think of you lately / It ain’t all sunshine / When you cross my mind / I start missin’ you like crazy / I try to numb the pain, but there ain’t no damn way / I end up in that place and I’m just one whiskey away.
Chorus (Green):
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 killin’ me not holdin’ you right now / I’m one memory away from fallin’ all the way apart / ‘Cause I might still love you / Hope you don’t mind if I do.
I almost quit drinkin’ / For a while, I quit thinkin’ about you / I got a little sleep / And some nights I can’t control it / Sometimes I give in because not havin’ you is hard on me / But when I give into that vice and pour another over ice / Well, girl, I know that’s when I start missin’ you again.
Repeat Chorus (Green, Langley)
Need you to pick me up when I’m covered in that goodbye dust / You’re the only thing to get me through.
(Langley)
Well, I don’t mind if you do / Drink a little too much and show up at my house / Be nice to hear the truth / Is it killin’ you not holdin’ me right now / If fallin’ into me is the only thing you think is gonna get you through / Then I don’t mind if you do / I don’t mind.
New country artists and traditionalists rule this Top Country Songs of 2024 list.
Airplay charts, sales data and streaming numbers helped make this list of country music’s Top 40 songs of 2024, but staff and Taste of Country reader opinion were also influential.
Songs included on our previous Top Country Songs lists were not eligible.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
Country is well known for duets, and there is no shortage of collaborations between men and women, women and women, or two men.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes