Ella Langley

One Liner: Relatively straight-forward Nashville country

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country and Country Rock
Home: Nashville (via Hope Hull, Alabama)

Sunday

Thoughts:  My instant thought it that this is a pretty straight-forward new country/Nashville product.  Lots of rock and roll guitars, a pretty voice and pretty face, generally generic lyrics about drinkin' whiskey and being a dream girl for a country boy.  But then when I cycled back through the tunes a couple more times, while there are some tropes in here, there are also some lyrics that nail real feelings and are more appealing than first blush.

She taught herself guitar using her grandfather's hand-me-down guitar, learning covers and trying it out at weddings and restaurants.  She ended up going to Auburn, where she kept at it, gigging around and trying to make a go of it, until she relocated to Nashville.  She used the pandemic time to write songs and create a social media following, which appears to have worked.  Since the world has opened back up, she's opened for Cody Johnson and Jamey Johnson, among others, and got to perform her debut at the Grand Ole Opry this year.

Her first single was in 2021, but the next year saw her two biggest singles.  The first of those was released on April Fools, 2022, and I think has some solid lines.  "Damn You" with 22.1 million.

Like, that starts out sounding like a lot of other tunes in the new Nashville genre, but then the chorus rings so true that I forgive it. "and what time that tequila would be nothing but ice" is the bit that nails it to me.  But, without those sharp lyrics here and there, this is otherwise a pretty generic country rock lover's lament.  Fine.  The other big track was released October 28, 2022, and really digs in to the generic tropes - even with the song title.  "Country Boy's Dream Girl," 24.7 million streams.

Red Dirt Road?  Check!  George Jones?  Check!  Sweet Tea?  Check!  Faded Jeans?  Check!  Back Porch?  Check!  I don't like that one nearly so much as I like the other.  But it is not terrible.  Just a little trite to me.  

She finally released an album (although at 8 songs and 25 minutes, that may be an EP) called Excuse the Mess, and it includes that last song.  She also features on a solid song by Tanner Usrey, who was at ACL this year, called "Beautiful Lies."  She almost sounds like Kacey on that.  And I kind of like "Paint the Town Blue."  I'm not in love with any of this, but relatively good for country music.