What does a kangaroo have to do with Ella Langley's smash hit, "Choosin' Texas"? That sounds like the intro to a lame joke, but it's the truth. In fact, Langley herself dished at length about it recently with Katie Neal of Katie & Company. It sounds like a tall tale. A hopping good one at that!
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Langley First Heard About the Pet From Someone Who Knew Miranda Lambert
Ella Langley and Miranda Lambert are best buds. They did a stunning duet at the ACM Awards last year, the two worked together on Langley's new album, Dandelion, and they collaborated with Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor on the sizzling song "Choosin' Texas."
Way back, Langley said, she got wind of a wacky animal owned by Lambert. She heard about the jumping critter from a man who knew the "Kerosene" singer. And it stuck in Langley's mind.
She shared with Katie Neal, "He told me this story about her [Lambert] having a kangaroo and then getting pulled over with the kangaroo in the car. And I had so many questions about that. And every time I've ever seen her, I wanted to ask about it, but I wait. I'm like, 'This isn't the right time. We're on the red carpet. You can't ask about that now.'"
She Eventually Asked Lambert About the Creature
At last an opportune moment came up when Ella Langley felt at ease asking Lambert about her pet.
"Straight up, I was like, 'Did you ever have a pet kangaroo at one time?' She goes, 'I did. I had a pet kangaroo.' And she literally rerouted places on her tour because there were places that wouldn't have a kangaroo. She brought it on tour...she said one day she was riding dirt roads and she had a dog in the back and the kangaroo in the passenger seat and she ended up getting pulled over on this dirt road and somehow talked her way out of this ticket."
Langley teased her friend Lambert that the police officer must have figured that the singer was from the Lone Star State. The wild calamity occurring in her vehicle evidently gave it away. Thus the line, "She's from Texas, I can tell" was born and found its way into Ella Langley's sensational new track.
She explained, "That's kind of how I come up with a lot of songs is it's really just in conversation and I'll say a phrase that I like or something just catches my ear."
The Song Is a Monster Hit
Langley scored mighty big with this one. Per Country Now, "It...rose to the No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Ella Langley the first woman to lead the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay charts simultaneously." Yet anther triumph for the talented singer from Hope Hull, Alabama.
