Riley Green is on a lot of TV screens these days.
The country singer from Alabama is one of the coaches on NBC’s “The Voice” this fall. Monday night’s Cut Week episode on Nov 2 featured his team, and the Live Shows kick off next Monday, Nov 9, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
That means a whole lot of new fans are getting to know Riley. And some of them have figured out there’s another person worth talking to in his family.
His mom.
Her name is Karen, and she’s a big part of Riley’s story. She’s even gone on the “Got It From My Momma” podcast to talk about what it was like raising him. If you’ve never heard her, this episode from the podcast’s own channel is a nice way to meet the woman behind the singer before you hear what his fans have been sending her.
Riley’s mom Karen talks about her son on a podcast
So here’s the situation. Karen is on Instagram. That means she sees what people say about her son online, the good and the silly.
Riley has talked about this before. In an interview with ABC Audio back in May 2025, he explained how it works.
“My mom has an Instagram, unfortunately, so she sees things that are mentioned. I think she gets some messages. She told me she got some applications for daughter-in-law sent to her in DMs.”
Yes, you read that right. Fans have been sending Riley’s mom “applications for daughter-in-law” in her private Instagram messages.
They’re clearly having fun with her. And as any mom of a grown son might guess, Karen isn’t losing sleep over it.
Maybe raising a boy like Riley is good practice for that. Another clip from the same podcast has Karen telling stories about little Riley, and the title gives away her verdict: he was a bit mischievous as a kid.
Karen remembers Riley as a mischievous little boy
Riley says his mom handles the attention just fine. “She’s got a really good outlook on it,” he told ABC Audio.
He also pointed out that a lot of what happens online shouldn’t be taken too seriously. “Some of what we do out here is not reality, and people on the internet and things they say, is a lot of times just people being funny.”
And that’s how Karen treats it. “So, she has a good sense of humor with it and doesn’t let it affect her too much.”
It’s a sweet picture of a country star and his mama. He’s out on the road and on national TV, and she’s back home reading fan mail that was never really meant for her, and getting a kick out of it.
Taste of Country even put together a quick clip about her, and its title says what plenty of fans already think: Riley’s mom knows what’s up.
A quick Taste of Country clip about Riley’s mom
Plenty of moms worry about what strangers say about their kids online. Karen seems to have found the right way to handle it. She takes the jokes as jokes, then passes the best ones along to her son.
When the Live Shows start on Monday night, keep in mind that Riley’s not the only one in the family getting fan mail. His mom may be checking her messages too.