Ella Langley experienced a major breakthrough in her career this year, largely driven by her first No. 1 hit, “You Look Like You Love Me” featuring Riley Green, and also saw a massive growth in her fan base as a result. While this success may seem sudden to some of her new listeners, it’s actually been a long time coming as she has put in a lifetime of hard work to reach this point. So, how did she get here? On a new episode of the God’s Country podcast, Langley breaks it all down —from her musical upbringing to her journey from Alabama to Nashville.
Langley’s dad, who also joined her on the podcast taping, says she was “so confident” in her singing ability from a young age. She confirmed his statement claiming, “This has been the plan for me my whole life.” While her whole family is made up of music enthusiasts, she really began developing a love for the art of performing thanks to the encouragement of her grandparents.
“My grandpa was, I mean, he could sing. My grandma could sing. He could play every instrument by ear,” she shared. “Our family reunions, all of them would get together and everyone was singing. Music has just been a big part of our life on my dad’s side, but also my mom’s side.”
Her dad went on to explain that Langley would spend many days under the care of her grandparents who would dedicate their time to playing piano, learning new songs and building up her experience as a performer. The Alabama native later took what she had learned and began sharing her talents in church and local events.
“I mean, I loved it. Everything about it. I’ve always loved it. I’ve never wanted to do anything else. Not even that, I think that I could be good at doing plenty of other things, but this is what I want to do.”
Goodbye College, Hello Nashville
After high school she made her way to Auburn University where she studied for two years and in that time played cover songs in what felt like every bar in the southeast alongside her band. Burnout started to set in, so in order to find that same fire and passion she had before, Langley packed up and moved to Nashville at 20 years old.
“I had a boyfriend who was in music and then his manager, they were both moving to Nashville and we’re going to live with Trey (Lewis). And I was like, well hell, I’m not staying here. So I called mom and dad and I said, ‘Hey, I think I want to drop out of school and move to Nashville. I’m just going to be in more debt anyways when I graduate. I mean, I’m going to go do this anyways. I would rather start it now.’”
This month marks five years since making the move that changed her life. While she admits it was tough to leave behind her family back in Alabama, the “Hungover” singer now knows she made the right decision as she ended up finding a new support system in Music City who have helped her chase the dream.
“It’s been a cool journey of finding those people for me in town that I just love and love me and believe in me and I believe in them. And so that’s what’s really kept me going a lot through this,” she shared honestly. “And obviously my family supports me the way that they do and just love me, but that’s the thing, nobody has ever thought I was going to do anything else…If you ask any of my family, they’re like, ‘yeah, we all knew that this was what she was going to do.’ So there wasn’t ever really any question when I wanted to move.
Crossing Of A Bucket list Writing Session With Miranda Lambert
One prominent member of Langley’s Nashville circle is fellow Alabama native and acclaimed songwriter, Joybeth Taylor. Together, the pair have continued to pursue their musical dreams alongside each other.
“I remember our first write on that back porch. I was living in a house with three guys and I was still playing some cover gigs and I was watching all of them get gigs over me and it was tough. I was like, I’m put on just good of a show, but it lit this fire under my a** and same thing kind of with songwriting. And her and I were out there and she’s from Alabama as well. So we just kind of had that little bit of a connection.”
She went on to recall the first day they ever wrote together and discussing some of their biggest goals. One of their collective aspirations was to write with megastar Miranda Lambert, which Langley revealed finally came true recently.
“I looked at her, I said, ‘I bet you and I’ll do that together one day.’ And that just happened two weeks ago,” she declared proudly.
Sophomore Album To Pay Tribute To Her Alabama Roots
While Langley is still celebrating the success of “You Look Like You Love Me,” she shared that she is honing in on developing her new album, which will follow her debut project, Hungover, and its extended version that both dropped earlier this year. Now that she has this milestone under her belt, the singer/songwriter is going into her next collection with even more confidence and authenticity as she aims to pay tribute to her Alabama roots.
“I’m really excited about where I’m going next. I have the title for the next record. I have the music video planned out. I have the creative for it pretty much done. And it’s really organically fallen out…with this next record, I kind of want to show that side a little more of me, who is Ella Langley, not just the songwriter or the artist, but the human being.
She went on to tease how excite she is to finally share the hard work with the world and kickstart this new chapter of music.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of Ronnie Milsap, if that gives you any indications, a lot of George Jones,” the CMA Award winner continued. “It is such a cool follow up and I know that this next record’s going to only be better than the one that I just put out because that’s my first record. That’s me guessing. I didn’t know how to put out a record now. Now I’ve done it before. I have a little experience and I know what I want and don’t want. And I know the band that I want to a T. I think we’re going with a different producer on this next one, I haven’t completely nailed that down yet. But just excited for this next chapter of just growing and playing the shows.”
In support of her debut album, Ella Langley’s sold-out headlining Still Hungover Tour will pick back up on January 23 and continue through April. She’ll also join Green on his Damn Country Music Tour throughout the year.
The post Ella Langley Shares Her Journey From Alabama To Nashville: ‘This Has Been The Plan For Me My Whole Life’ appeared first on Country Now.
