Ella Langley Co-Hosts 6/28-29

The co-host this week is Ella Langley, who is in our Top 5 with “Weren’t For The Wind.” She just won 5 ACM Awards, and has been on tour this year with Riley Green. She’s about to do stadium shows with Morgan Wallen. She looks back on a pretty amazing year.

Lon began the show by saying it’s been quite a year. Ella replied: “My head’s on a swivel just constantly spinning around.  It’s nuts. My feet have not touched the ground.  I’m getting to taste it for the first time. I’ve only dreamt about it.  To have the most nominations is mind boggling.  It’s taken some time to adjust.”

Last July, she was part of the Toby Keith tribute TV special where she met Eric Church: “There was a bar on the stage, and seated at the bar were all these famous country stars including Eric Church.  So I walked up to him and shook his hand.  He slid his sunglasses down, looked me in the eye and said, ‘Ella Langley, I love your voice.’  I could have passed out right there. That was my meeting Eric Church story.” 

A few months later, she & Riley played a festival with Thomas Rhett.  “I didn’t have my bus for that show. I walked on Riley’s bus and saw Thomas sitting there. It was just the three of us hanging out. He asked me a lot of questions about TikTok and social media.  Later that night, he flew us home on his plane.”

She has this memory of meeting Cole Swindell: “In 2018, I was a student at Auburn, and a group of us went to the Auburn Rodeo. I was in the parking lot with the group I came with. playing guitar and singing Wagon Wheel.  Somebody came over and stood real close to me.  I looked up and it was Cole Swindell!  He just happened to be there! I got a picture of the two of us!” 

The subject of new music came up: “This next record I’m going to put out is very much a concept piece.  It’s different than what I’ve done, but it’s still me.  I can’t wait to talk about it, but I can’t right now. There are so many layers to this. It’s not going to come out til next year. We may put out a single before then. It’s the coolest thing I’ve gotten to do.  I’m co-producing the whole thing.  I’m so excited.”

When we got to #1, it just happened to be a familiar name: Riley Green: “Numero Uno, I know that guy pretty well! It’s pretty cool. My first #1 was with him, we’re on our second tour together.  I love doing that song with him every night.  It’s always a moment.  He’s a great writer, and I think some of his best stuff is when he gets alone for a minute and writes by himself.”

Ella also has great stories this week about Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley, Cody Johnson, Keith Urban, and Morgan Wallen.

NEXT WEEK: Cole Swindell

Tags: country music, Ella Langley, featured

Category: CO-HOST