Riley Anderson Live Music at Haughty Heron

Riley Anderson is a country artist and songwriter from Leesburg, Georgia. He was born in Canada, moved to the United States at 14, and settled in Leesburg at 20. He's lived there for over a decade. The town shows up in his music.

Before live music was his full-time job, Riley spent 11 years on the railroad — five as a conductor, six as a locomotive engineer. He started at 19, the same age his father was when he began his own railroad career. He left a stable job not because he had to, but because music kept pulling harder than the work did.

He got his first guitar at 11 and taught himself to play by ear — songs off tapes, CDs, and the radio. "It's just something I've always done whenever I had a moment to myself," he says. "It's always been a constant."

His songwriting pulls from his own life and the people around him. In 2024, he and his wife welcomed their son, Miller, after losing their first pregnancy — something Riley talks about openly and turned into a song called "Almost." The themes in his music — love, loss, hope, family — come from actual experience, not a formula.

He's shared the stage with Tracy Lawrence, Gary Allan, Miranda Lambert, Justin Moore, and Trey Lewis. He's also quick to tell you he considered stand-up comedy as a backup plan.

Riley Anderson isn't chasing a sound. He's just writing what he knows.