Ella Langley has another hit at country radio. After recently celebrating “Don’t Mind If I Do,” her second duet with Riley Green to hit No. 1, Langley is likely to soon have a chart-topping single of her own, with “Choosin’ Texas.” The song is written by Langley, along with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, and Joybeth Taylor.
“We were on one of these things called a writer’s retreat, where you take a couple of your favorite people and you just sit down for however many days and write songs,” Langley recalls (via Country Rebel). “And hopefully some of them are good.”
What Inspired Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” Single
Langley recalls the conversation she had with Lambert, which became the inspiration for “Choosin’ Texas.”
“She told me she had a pet kangaroo, and she was doing something,” Langley recalls. “She was driving down a dirt road, and the kangaroo was in the back seat, and the dog was in the front seat. There was a lot going on. Then she got pulled over with a kangaroo in the passenger seat. And I was like, ‘This story’s as good as I thought it would be.’ She said the lady cop pulled her over, and she’s like, ‘Of course I have Texas plates on the back of my car.’”
Later, Langley and Lambert were walking to the bathroom during their writer’s retreat, when they landed on the idea of “Choosin’ Texas.”
“I was walking to the bathroom, and I started to go, ‘She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way he’s two-steppin’ around the room,'” Langley recounts. “And Miranda was walking behind me to the bathroom, a separate one, and she was like, ‘Wait a minute! The [girl] he went with, she’s from Texas, I can tell.’ The girl he went with, you know? And from there, I think the song fell out in about 30 minutes, and it’s one of my favorite ones we got off the retreat that weekend.”
How Ella Langley Is Making History With “Choosin’ Texas”
Langley’s “Choosin’ Teas” is not only already in the Top 10, but it’s also made country music history. The song is the fastest-rising single by a female artist to reach the Top 10 in the last decade. The song reached the Top 10 in only eight weeks. It beats Lainey Wilson, who previously held the record with 12 weeks, with “Somewhere Over Laredo.”
The Lyrics of Ella Langley’s “Chosin’ Texas”
Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee
I should’ve known better than to take him back to Abilene
I put him right back into her arms
I wasn’t a match for that kind of spark
She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way
He’s two-stepping ’round the room
And judging by the smile that’s written on his face
There’s nothing I can do
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see
A cowboy always finds a way to leave
Drinking Jack all by myself
He’s choosin’ Texas, I can tell
Well, I guess he forgot about the Smoky Mountain rain
Them old Hank tunes, the Memphis blues we used to sing
He always loved “Amarillo by Morning”
I should’ve taken that as a warning
She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way
He’s two-stepping ’round the room
And judging by the smile that’s written on his face
There’s nothing I can do
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see
A cowboy always finds a way to leave
Drinking Jack all by myself
He’s choosin’ Texas, I can tell
See country shows near New York
Get tickets as low as $190
When I’m eastbound and down and I can’t help but cry
‘Cause I-40 gets lonelier with every mile
I’ll know that his mind wasn’t ever gonna change
‘Cause his heart still belongs to the Lone Star State
She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way
He’s two-stepping ’round the room
And judging by the smile that’s written on his face
There’s nothing I can do, naw, yeah
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see
A cowboy always finds a way to leave
Drinking Jack all by myself
He’s choosin’ Texas, I can tell, no
Drinking Jack all by myself
He’s choosin’ Texas, I can tell
Come on, baby
Oh yeah
Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee
Photo Credit: CMA / Hunter Berry