“It changed my life…a little bit the music but mainly the bangs.’ When Ella Langley credited her haircut as the reason for her success she was only half joking. Go back and watch her old videos and you can see how much the fringe has helped to elevate her whole artistic persona. Her ability to hone the classic seventies look and musical sound of Jessi Colter and Stevie Nicks into something distinctive, modern and yet still traditionally country has sent her into the stratosphere.
Breaking a female artist into the country music mainstream has been notoriously difficult, breaking a female country artist into an all genre superstar without them having to sing pop music feels like an fairytale. Ella’s living it. She’s only 26. She’s writing from the heart and clearly working with a brilliant team who understand the modern social media landscape. Her last album ‘Hungover’ leaned into the hard drinking, heartbroken persona with enough glamour to appeal across the board. But this new album ‘Dandelion’ feels like a step up to a whole other level altogether.
Another smart choice for this album was working with her hero Miranda Lambert as songwriter, producer and duet partner. Ella’s music doesn’t really sound like the Miranda Lambert angry at men, smashing shit up, running her mouth, creating mess and not looking back kind of country songs. Yet there’s a reason Miranda is working with her. Ella’s hard drinking, tomboyish style of her first album certainly has Miranda echoes but what connects them both seems to be more about a willingness to be vulnerable and admit your heartbreaks too. Advice from Miranda to Ella to ‘make it about the music’ has helped her when she’s been struggling. To see artists like Miranda working with the younger generation, helping them navigate a competitive and cruel industry is heartening.
The opening and closing coda on this album is Ella singing the first song she ever learned to play – the traditional folk tune ‘Froggy Went a Courtin’. She sang and played this one with her grandparents, who were the first ones to encourage her to sing and play guitar. From the outset this album seems like a more personal invitation to get to know the real Ella.
Title track Dandelion was actually written during her last album cycle and she put it aside, knowing this style of this one was musically where she wanted to head towards. It has a softer, feminine, more seventies soft country rock vibe as well as giving us something of her spirit too. Dandelions symbolise resilience, hope, healing. When she found out that dandelion tea was also a detox for the liver she decided it was the perfect aesthetic to follow up her debut album. What the song itself tells us is that she’s not afraid to be humble and to honour where she comes from. She owes a debt to Kacey on this one as well (in fact much of this album has a clear Golden Hour influence too).
To say ‘Choosin’ Texas’ is already a classic country song after less than a year released is barely scratching the surface of what this song has achieved. She’s been number one all genre for weeks and is now making an impact on the UK charts too, which is notoriously difficult for country artists to break. The video has only cemented the impact of the song, with its perfect storytelling and celeb cameos. It’s a once in a lifetime hit and it’s gonna run and run right through summer and beyond, deservedly sweeping up all the awards on the way.
It’s hard to top a song like that but the rest of the album makes for great listening nonetheless. ‘We Know Us’ combines some nice seventies grooves with emotive longing in her vocal. The piano ballad of ‘Low Lights’ has a little Patsy Cline in the ‘Crazy’ vibe of giving into to the drama of a doomed relationship.
The Fleetwood Mac influence can’t be understated, despite this album appealing to the ‘traditional country’ fans I think the reason she’s gone beyond the genre is the way she’s tapped into that vibe. On ‘Be Her’ we have a catchy, summery smooth mash up of ‘Jolene’ and ‘Girl Crush’. She’s said this is less about being jealous of a real person and more about wishing you were the better version of yourself and that really means the song works on different levels.
Not every song is heartbreak and vulnerability though – she can do a straight love song like on ‘You & Me Time’. The really interesting song on here, one that I think conveys her individuality best is ‘Loving Life Again’, which she wrote after experiencing burnout last year. Too many young artists are pushed to the brink and it’s brave of her to use that experience to bring something hopeful and optimistic to her fans.
‘Bottom of Your Boots’ inspired by a pep talk from her dad, a classic sounding love song that asks for respect. She was looking for big, sing along choruses on this album, and here she’s gets one, going almost country disco with great results.
She then offers a sweet little acoustic gospel song on ‘Speaking Terms’, which is one of only two songs she didn’t write on the album. The other is a cover of the classic Kitty Wells song ‘It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels’ which aims squarely at the sexist, double standards of men and country music itself. It’s shocking that the song is still relevant, but Ella sings it so well and it’s nice to see her nod to such a trailblazer in the genre.
My only real complaint about the album is the over long final third and the slightly trad wife sounding ‘Something Simple’ which uses that old Dolly Parton trope of a girl going to the big city, becoming a success and still longing for a husband in the country instead. Better is ‘Most Good Things Do’ which encapsulates the same kind of nostalgic feeling for where you grew up without the stereotypes.
The duet between Miranda and Ella ‘Butterfly Season’ is so lovely and while it doesn’t reach the heights of Choosin’ Texas it shows the important message of this album – finding the optimism of spring, taking time for yourself and seeking the confidence to keep going forward believing in yourself no matter what shit you’ve been through.
Honestly before this album came out I was considering being done with reviewing mainstream country music. There was just something unsettling about the way certain artists were aligning themselves politically and / or supporting artists who I found pretty toxic. But just when you think you’re done, they somehow find the songs to suck you back in. There’s just something about this girl that’s irresistible.
‘Dandelion’ is such a welcome blast of fresh, healing spring air. And just like that I’m back to loving country music again.
Highway Queens 
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