Transcript of #651 - Ella Langley New

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Just a reminder that tickets for Busboys: The Movie with myself and David Spade are on sale right now. Presale tickets, you can get them. It's in theaters April 17th, but if you get tickets now, it'll show the movie theaters that we're going to sell them, uh, or that they are selling, and then we can expand to more theaters. So if you know when you're going to go and, um, and you can support, that would be great. And no pressure if you can't. Uh, again, the presale tickets are available, uh, busboysmovie.com. Um, I'm excited. Thank you. Today's guest is one of the biggest country artists in the game right now, and I think for the future. She's got that power in her voice. She's got that, you know, it's just, it's raw but refined. It's, it's delightful. Her new album Dandelion is out Friday, April 10th, wherever you stream music, and she'll be taking it on tour as well. I'm excited to sit down today with the one of one, Miss Ella Langley. Um, and it's a little warm here. Do y'all feel that?

I feel great.

Damn. All right. You feel you want a little flow?

Do that.

My little brother, he ordered it. Yeah, I know who he is. I met him on the way in.

You meet the whole family now? Pretty much.

Hey, I have. I have. That guy was fresh off the— fresh off the damn boat. He seemed like he had some real grit to him. We'll talk about him.

You could say that.

Yeah.

He do.

He do. Yeah, yeah, he do. Yeah, I met y'all's granddaddy. He was a real— he definitely seemed like he could just fix a flat tire with his tongue. That guy had some grit in him.

What?

I mean, not like in a perverted way, just— I mean, he seemed like he could just hold a car up while somebody fixed a tire.

He does love cars.

Does he really? Yeah, I didn't know that.

Um, Teslas. Big Tesla guy.

He loves them. He's like one of them future babies or whatever.

Sure.

Yeah. But I mean, he's like a guy that— I don't know. I've pictured him more of like a garage type of guy, maybe. I don't know. Maybe I didn't. He said he went to see the Grateful Dead. I think I remember him saying.

Yeah, he's my hippie grandpa.

Okay.

Yeah. So my parents are split in two, kind of. Like my mom's— you met her too.

Oh yeah, I met your mom.

Yeah, you did. You did meet her.

Dude, I met your mom. I talked to her for probably almost 20 minutes.

I know. I came in and you were hanging out with my mom and my grandpa.

Yes.

What's going on here?

I don't know what was going on. Maybe it's my real family. Yeah, it was that Jelly Roll show.

My niece Jelly Roll was there though.

Yeah. And you were on it too.

I walked out there.

You sang.

Yeah. Yeah.

You guys did a great job. It was awesome.

That was cool.

Yeah, that was cool.

She's so good.

Yeah, she is just really— and she kind of embraced— I think some people get to certain points in their career where they kind of embrace being this, like, thing that's bigger than them. And I think she, like, she's done that kind of.

Yeah, she's so good at giving her all, all the time.

Yeah.

I feel like I have to have time away, like recluse time. And if I don't get that, then I'm like an insane person, even more than usual, really.

That's how I am.

Yeah. But Lainey, dude, she just goes and goes and goes. Like, even after the CMA Awards, we went to her bar afterwards. Here she is in her last outfit or camo outfit, you know, like the cape, the badass thing she had on.

I haven't seen that. Bring up that camo. She's in a damn camo cape.

Yeah, it was really good. God, I love that outfit. But she's then— she's in there shaking everyone's hand, you know, meeting everyone. She just hosted the awards by herself and running around.

And yeah, she kind of— yeah, she just goes.

Yes.

God, she looks like a nice, beautiful duck blind, I feel like. Yeah, I mean, I bet a lot of fellas would show up to want to hunt from that, I think. But anyway, she's also married, I think. But anyway, sorry, what are we talking about?

Almost.

Um, okay, let me think about where we should start from. Sorry, I'm trying to—

Did you grow up in church?

I did. I don't think it was like the best church or whatever though.

What kind? What denomination?

It was like Sixth— I think maybe Sixth Baptist or something. I'm not even sure.

It was like Sixth Baptist.

It was like one of the It was not. It was like one of them. It was, yeah, it was pretty, it was wild.

Yeah. No, I grew up a Southern Baptist.

You did?

Yeah.

Oh gosh.

Really, really small church. It started in a barn. The house that I also grew up in, my dad grew up in, and there's an old barn across the street and it started in hay bales on that barn. Then they moved it to a church. And I mean, every Sunday and Wednesday. You were in there? Till I was 18 years old. Yeah.

Was it a big part of your social life too?

Yeah. Yeah. I was homeschooled for some years, so pretty much all we did was go to church.

No. In what state were you homeschooled in? Alabama?

Yeah, South Alabama, Montgomery.

That's one place I don't know if I would accept homeschooling in, to be honest.

We didn't do any much school, you know, just played outside.

Oh yeah, but that's sometimes the best school.

It really was.

Oh, fuck.

I feel like my imagination got to live longer than most.

Yeah, that's a good point, because you kind of take kids and you put them in like this— it's almost like being in a laboratory at a school. Like, you're sitting under there on those lights or whatever, some kid's eating paste or whatever, and you're supposed to to not say something?

Yeah, I got in trouble a lot. I went to kindergarten and first grade and I was always in trouble.

What was the crime you were guilty of?

Talking, distracting others.

Yeah, dude. Bro, how great was that in school when you got back on your thing? Distracting others.

Distracting others. I had a designated seat in the corner. It was this little green metal desk and it was facing the corner and I'd just sit over there.

Oh, I know. Distracting. And what do you think you were distracting them from?

Probably, I don't know, anything. Just talking.

And were you trying to get people to see you, you think, or you were just— you had something to say? What was going on there, Ella Langley?

I just think that school was boring for me. I did not like that. God, I did not like it at all. The whole time. Naps, hated it. What do you mean you have to sit still?

Dude, we had this lady named Miss Robin. She kind of had hair like yours a little bit, and she would on nap time when Baruti's asleep, she'd come over and kind of kick me a little bit and she'd let me go out with her and watch her smoke cigarettes and shit.

So, I mean, she's pretty good.

She was cool. And her husband was apparently— he had some domestic charges or whatever. But anyway, she let me spend time with her and watch her smoke.

She probably needed it.

Yeah.

Like you're a confidant at a young age.

Yeah, dude, I was just sitting there.

That makes sense.

Just leaning on this tire of this car.

Life lessons, this lady, you know, and you're like, well, you know what I would do is—

Yeah, Carl is a piece of shit. You know, just helping her out. But she would smoke, and she had this kind of like, this kind of country, you know, sometimes that when they get that feathered, real country feathered look, you know, when it has a lot of feathers.

Yeah, a lot of feathers going on.

Just a damn mallard of a woman, you know. Yeah, but I remember that, that was a good time. I remember. But yeah, when you got distracting others was just like, gosh.

Yeah.

And you were guilty of it too.

Yeah, yeah. I had a bunch of eye surgeries when I was young, and so like for the muscles in my eyes.

And what happened? You had bad eye muscles?

Yeah, sometimes I'd just be a little cross-eyed. Oh God.

And you were in the choir too? Was you just that cross-eyed girl just singing in the choir?

Everywhere I was, yeah. Everywhere, singing my heart out. But then I had some surgeries and then the teacher's like, she just is not paying attention in here. Homeschooled until 6th grade, and then 7th grade went back to the same high school my dad went to. Graduated with 32 kids.

But how could you pay attention if your eyes weren't even team— like buddies or whatever?

No, the doctor described it to me. I just had another one like 2, maybe 3 years ago, and it's kind of brutal, honestly. Like they have to take your eyeballs out.

You're lying.

I swear, dude.

My God.

Get in there. It's crazy.

And they go inside?

They get in. Yeah, get in there.

What's it called?

I don't know.

Damn.

I just called it eye surgeries.

Um, yes. Yeah, yeah, that's fair.

But she described it to me like horse and carriage, you know, when you have two horses and one can't be going this way and one can't be going this way, that's not going to work, you know. So they got to learn to work together, and mine just never did.

And now you got them trusty steeds in your face, huh?

Yeah, sometimes they slip up, but that's just good character.

You can just go like that.

Yeah, yeah. I just look at everybody like this, you know what I mean?

Yeah, get them in line.

Wink, keep winking a lot.

Yeah, yeah, that's wild. Did y'all have, uh, did y'all have school dances at— well, I guess if you homeschool, but if you got in, once you went to your dad's school, the same school he went to, did you guys have dances at school?

Yeah, it was like normal school.

Did y'all have like Sadie Hawkins and stuff like that? Was like kind of Southern style, or what was the—

no, we— it wasn't like a rich private school. Like, this is— well, Sadie Hawkins, out in the country Zadie Hawkins, I guess.

You had to buy a t-shirt for some— like, like the girl had to ask—

just like a homecoming dance?

No, the girl had to ask the guy and he had to get him a shirt that matched. You had to do matching shirts or whatever. You know, you didn't have it. But if y'all had a dance, what did y'all do with only that many students in the class?

I would just dance. I don't know, we just danced around. Usually we didn't stay that long. We'd go to like a bonfire or something afterwards.

But was it hard to date like in a school that small? Was it hard to fall— like, was it— what was the energy like that? I mean, you've known all these people people your whole life.

You know, they're— you know what they're driving, you know what their parents drive. I mean, yeah, I mean, you know how it is. Yeah, that's why I really— this town and this job is very similar to a small town. You get used to, um, like, I kind of look at the fame thing like that now, you know, because when you're in a small town, like, I would hear shit about me all the time. I'm like, I did what? You know?

Yeah.

And you— I don't know, you just get used to that.

So do you think not being from Nashville is better coming into this kind of place? Like, is it— does it— when you get here, does it get so like— is like the music scene, uh, for lack of a better term, is it more like— is it so some type of way if you're from Nashville? Do you think it feels different?

Probably. I mean, Earn's from Nashville.

I mean, he's been here the whole time, but I guess I was like, does he feel like more of a pressure or more of a responsibility? I wonder if— I guess I just wonder if anything's different. Like, if you come from an outside group, does it feel tougher? Does it feel easier maybe? Or do you—

I think people probably in your town that you're from look at you a little crazier, you know. I'm like 16 years old playing in weddings, 18 years old, you know. I went to Auburn for 2 years, university, but I was playing shows the whole time.

Uh, was that your first shows down there?

Uh, no, actually my first show was at this tiny little bar called Beslow's. It's, um, this lake in Alabama is called Lake Martin, but there's all these little—

Dude, I've been on Lake Martin. Yeah, bring up Lake Martin, dude. I can't even believe you said Lake Martin.

Yeah, this is the lake I grew up going to every summer. It's one of the actually the biggest man-made lakes, I believe, in the I want to say the world. It's not the world, but I think North America at least.

It could be the world. If you're from Alabama, that is the damn world.

Exactly.

I remember when going to Florida would seem like it was like, God, somebody had went to damn mall. They'd done it. If somebody come back from summertime and they'd gone to Florida, they had just done it. They had won the world. Big time. Yes. Or they had a shirt on said Florida or Hard Rock.

One of those.

Hard Rock, Destiny, or whatever.

Yes, whatever they do with the little air gun.

What is it?

Yeah, that shit, the airbrush.

Yeah, Ricky's in Destiny or whatever.

Yeah, sick sunglasses.

God, and just a fist jumping across the back.

Everyone has like a tan line from the weird little band you have to wear and pulls your hair the whole time.

God. Lake Martin in Alabama is considered the world's largest man-made lake. Wow. Upon its completion in 1926, created by the Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River, it covers approximately 40,000 to 44,000 acres. Yeah, I had a girlfriend when I was a child, and we went out there, and her family had a lake house out there, and we'd go out there, do like, uh, what's it called when you're kind of like jet skis? Oh no, no, when you're behind the, uh, you're like on the board and you're like behind the—

oh, a kneeboard?

Yeah, yeah, kneeboarding, legboarding, all of it. Yeah, full bodyboarding, footboarding, footboarding. Yeah, just, we was just boarding. I mean, you'd see somebody— oh, you'd see somebody out there on a fucking piece of plywood out there just managing that bitch along the wake. It was beautiful out there.

Yeah, that's what we did all summer.

Yeah, I loved it. And lake life at— like, lake life is different, dude. Strange shit happens out there, especially lake life in the country. Yeah, there's some real perverts out there too, I will say that. Some damp perverts or whatever.

Um, yeah, yeah, rednecks everywhere.

Yeah, Easter just happened. Did you guys, um, do y'all, do y'all do eggs for, uh, Easter?

Deviled eggs.

Really?

Yeah.

Y'all never painted eggs growing up?

No. Yeah, of course we did. Yeah, dyed them, painted them with that little kit or whatever. Yeah, so fun.

Yeah, dude, that was really nice.

But what do you do with them afterwards?

I don't know. I think your grandpa would eat them or something. A lot of times we would drop them at like a senior center or something, cuz regular people were not having like hard-boiled eggs. That was more like a senior dessert, kind of a senior delicacy, I think.

Deviled eggs are amazing. Do you like them?

I've had them once or twice, but I haven't really had them when I cared.

I think they had a rule at church that you could only have 2 deviled eggs on your first go because people would fight over them. They really would. We'd have potluck every Wednesday. So best Southern food you can think of. All these old women in there just, I mean, cobblers and casseroles.

Were people gambling at the— did they have that kind of thing too? Sometimes there's a potluck where they gamble at a church for fun.

No, they tried not to gamble. That's the thing. Southern Baptist.

Dude, the church bus. Yeah, I don't know what was going on with it. I do remember the church bus, they had like a, it might've been like Seventh Day, Seventh Baptist or Seventh Day Adventist, Advent. And then, but they would put those circus peanuts in wine and they would, the kids could have those like during communion. You know those orange circus peanuts that your grandparents had? They would put those.

Disgusting.

But they're not, if you soak them in a religious wine, they're good. They're pretty good when you're a kid.

I've never seen that before.

Yeah. They would have a wine glass and you'd get one out of there and that was just for the children.

Did y'all ever go to Judgment Houses?

No. What was it?

It's like they do it around Halloween.

Okay.

It's like a haunted house for Christians, I guess. Ooh. Very scary. Remember, our youth group took us. You get in there and it's like this car crash scene, and it's pretty much like convincing you that, yes, convincing you that you could die the second you walk out of here. So you better settle up.

You better get saved, huh?

You better get saved. And I had already been saved, but going through this affected me so bad that at the end they were like, does anyone, if you're not sure, you know, to sit down and talk? And so I raised my hand, you know, and I sat down with the guy at the table in the booth and we had the whole conversation. I'll never forget coming home and my dad was laying on the couch watching Titanic. And I said, Dad, I need to talk to you about something. And I was like, I got saved again tonight. And he like, my dad pauses the TV. He's pissed off about something. You know what I mean? He's like, that's how you know. It's like, he said, you did what? I was like, Dad, I just got so scared of this thing. He's like, baby, you not immediately just like, well, you are kind of a dumbass because, you know, that's the whole point of being saved.

You had to get saved twice.

Yeah, I was so scared. It was so scary.

Yeah, but you sound like a little bit of that danger baby, you know? You've always seemed like— I mean, or like, I don't know you that— I don't know you very well, but you, to me, you've seemed like kind of like that danger baby, you know? Just seem like a dang like a Hells Angel that got, you know, just took over a damn Guitar City, you know, like it just, you know, just got— went haywire in a Gibson store, you know. You just seem like that, uh, like, yeah, maybe you needed it two times.

I was maybe fearless, I think, is what it is. I don't know. I'm not—

you feel that a lot?

Yeah.

You feel risky or you feel fearless?

I definitely take a lot of risks. And I do have a lot of fears, which is funny that I think that, but I think, I don't know, I don't necessarily view myself as the same as I think everyone views me, which is funny. But yeah, I'd say fearless would be the word. I don't know. I'm just not afraid to take a chance on something, whatever it wants. If I want to do it, then I just know I'm going to do it. Even if part of me doesn't want to. I remember thinking as a kid with this music thing, I was like, man, that seems like a lot. Are we sure that's really what we want to do? And it's like there's this thing inside of me that's like, if you don't do it, you're going to hate your life for your whole entire life. And so I was like, okay, but that still seems like a lot. But I just know when I make my mind up, I don't know.

It seems like that. I mean, just from an outsider's perspective, you just seem like you know what's going on. Dang it.

Right. Try to act like it.

Yeah, but sometimes that's part of it.

I think sometimes that's the hard part. It's really the whole thing.

Yeah, it's like sometimes it's like pretend until the rest of you shows up and joins you.

No one's ever lived life before. Not one person has lived life before. You know what I mean? This is my first attempt at life as a human being. You know what I mean? Every— and so it's yours and everyone else's. And it's funny, just I think people forget that.

Yeah, there's never a lot of credit for that. It's never like—

It's like, it's our first go.

We hold people to a lot of serious stuff and we're never like, yeah, you know what? It's his first time.

Oh, it's his first time.

Yeah.

God, maybe we need to nap.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, dude. And first of all, if they had naps for adults, for everybody, it would all be so nice.

Yeah, but a nap goes one of two ways for me. I either wake up and I'm like, oh, I'm so glad that I got that. Or I wake up and I'm hell on earth. Really mad, upset. My day's kind of real. I don't know. I don't know. I just am like, I just wish I'd go back to sleep. It's one of those things you either power through or you don't.

Well, you just sound damn volatile, Ella.

I'm not.

You're not? You sure?

I think you're the only one saying that.

That could be true. You might be right. You might be right. Maybe this is that people have a perception of you that's not exact, or that— I mean, nobody's perception of somebody else is, or rarely. But yeah, maybe people have that perception of you. Whenever you were first doing shows, did they ever have like some fights at your shows or anything like that? Like, were you in some real honky-tonks?

Yeah, I've played every kind of show you can possibly imagine.

Same, same.

Uh, like, I mean, restaurants, weird little wing sports bar things, funeral. Oh yeah, funerals. So many funerals. Weddings. I started out with weddings. It was my first gig ever. Um, who would ever hire a 15-year-old to play while you're walking down the aisle.

I don't know if they're decent, maybe, or if they're cheap.

I don't know. Yeah, well, $200, baby. Hey, and I was like, I am rich.

Decent and cheap, that'd be my first album if I ever had one.

Um, but I don't know, it was always just—

but did they have fights in here? They ever have a good—

you ever see it all the time?

Yeah, yeah.

I watched one guy get arrested in Tuscaloosa selling coke right in front of me on the floor, and here I am just still playing, you know.

No way.

Yeah. Random. I, I played a lot before Alabama.

Prison, I can tell, huh? Yeah, I mean, that's crazy.

I played, um, one of my last gigs I played, I fell through the stage. Like, my last cover gigs, I did that for a while. And I did—

what, like a finishing act or something? Huh? Was it like a finishing—

like, no, I just— there, the stage was terrible.

Oh, you just on some bad wood or something?

Yeah, just the— they put a rug over it thinking if she can't see this whole thing, you know. Yeah, but yeah, play pretty much any and everything.

And what is this? Oh, that's you right there.

Oh, wow. Yeah, it is, I guess. Oh, that's at my family reunion. I think I was like 5, 4 or 5.

Is that on Lake Martin?

No, that's in Brantley, Alabama. That's way out in the country. Funny about this is when we— I remember when we pulled up here and my dad was like, we got the family reunion down here at the Whale. A buried whale out here. And as a kid, I was like, a buried whale? Like, why would they bury a whale all the way out here?

Yeah.

And, you know, it— I asked my dad about that. He said I was saying whale. Whale.

So buried whale out there, dude. Yeah, I remember I used to have to clean out wishing wells in our area. They had this thing where they was trying to do like I guess make money for the area or something, or like get a tourist thing. And so they installed a lot of wishing wells and stuff. And I got a job one summer cleaning them out. So you get down there and have to get down in them. Yeah.

I've never seen that happen.

Yeah. Yeah. Somebody gets in there. And I had very small kind of lean wrists and everything at the time and said, let me get down in there. And you'd bring up all the stuff and put it on the side and you got to keep some of the change, but then some of it you had to give to the city. Um, but you find a lot of people, a lot of just throw a lot of junk down the recyclables, kind of a lot of to-go orders, to-go barbecue, kind of seem like anyway.

Um, you gotta keep some of the change. Yeah, you just got to pick out which ones you kept.

No, they kind of— you gave it to them and, uh, and then they let you— they kind of gave you some back.

All right, well, that's kind of nice. That's a good gig, I guess.

I liked it. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Um, and I found a sword in there too, like a— I don't want to say a what. Yeah. I found like a— I think it was—

what kind of sword?

I think it was a dang— I don't want to say like a murder weapon or something, but I think it was a murder weapon sword. I think it was a weapon. It looked like it had, uh, been used.

Can you imagine you murder someone and then you throw— your place to throw it in is a wishing well?

Yeah, I think so.

What?

I wish I hadn't killed him. Maybe just throw that bastard in there, hit the reverse on that. Well, I think that's how wishing wells got their name. It's like you dropped your money in a hole and you just wish you hadn't. Probably.

Yeah, maybe.

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Nope.

Anybody ever try you from the audience or anything like that?

No. A lot of drunks just, you know, spilling their drinks all over the place, bumping into my microphone stand. I've had that happen a lot. Oh, that's the worst. When I hit the end of it, it just pops you right in the mouth.

Oh yeah, because you're not really expecting that.

Well, they're just so close to the stage and you're playing college bars. Yeah.

So a lot of college activity over there. Yeah. And was your family an Auburn fan growing up then?

Yeah, my mom's from Michigan, like I said, so she just kind of never really cared about that stuff. My dad was an Auburn fan, but yeah, that's kind of our football thing. It's Alabama or Auburn. Yeah, there's no NFL team in Alabama, so Yeah.

And does your folks— um, your folks are still together?

Yeah. Yes, they are.

And do you think, like, what, what makes you laugh about that?

Um, it's been a wild ride, but, um, but they haven't given up. Nope. Perseverance.

Pretty cool.

It is really cool. It's really cool to see how they are now, um, because I think there were a lot of years we were all like, y'all sure you like each other, you know?

Yeah.

But they did. They really stuck it out.

God. Was there a time when your parents were like, that they always say like, oh well, we knew when this happened that she was going to be a— do they have that kind of thing? We're like, we knew when she—

My grandparents on my dad's side pretty much raised me at their house. I lived over there. My grandpa could play anything by ear. They were a lot older. My grandma was 45 when she had my dad.

Oh wow.

Yeah. But I was like the first girl in the family and I started to match pitch with her as a baby. And so she figured out I could sing and she just like, singing was her thing. And my grandpa could, like I said, play any instrument by ear. And so at their house, that's all we did.

Like, you was a little baby bird, huh?

Oh yeah, that's all we did. And they were like, this is what she's going to do. And so they— yeah, that's my grandpa right there.

And they just put you out on the windowsill out there.

I sang at church a lot. I learned how to read from singing hymnals. But yeah, I mean, all I did, and I really just the whole time, like my whole family, we all just were like, this is what she's gonna do.

They just knew it the whole time. Was there a scary point for you? Like when you kind of like got a little bit spooked? I remember whenever I met you, one thing I do remember you saying is that I just knew that this is what I was doing, right? I was so determined. And I've talked to like Trey Lewis. I know you and him are friends. And he mentioned that, right? Whenever I ran into him one night, we were watching, your show at the knitting factory, maybe? Someplace, I can't remember. It might've been the Bluebird or Three's.

I don't know. I'm terrible at remembering these things.

It was a musical place. And he said she just always been so determined. Was there a part though, when you, even your own determination came up against this just feels like it's going to be tougher than I thought or? I don't know if this is the way, or did it never get to that point for you?

I think I always knew it was going to be tough. I mean, how many people move to this town in a day to do this job? I don't know. There's just— it's scary all the time because I love it. It's truly a part of who I am. My whole life I've done it and wanted to do it and thought about it every day, like daydreamed every time I'm in the car. I mean, hours and hours alone driving from gigs.

Like dreaming about what?

Just doing this, literally doing what I'm doing, like playing on stages and writing songs and getting to do this craft for a living. And I just feel like not everything always works out for me in my life. And so I like to leave very little room for error. Oh yeah. And so I think just keeping my head down and I'm definitely my toughest critic. When I watch something, I'm never like, oh yeah, I crushed that. Never ever, very rarely do I walk off stage and I'm like, I was amazing out there. I'm always just like, dude, I was— what was that shit that I just said? That was so— what the fuck is wrong with me? Like, why would I say that?

Well, it must be crazy then, because you seem like such a, like, a loot— like, kind of like almost say you'll say whatever. You kind of save your—

I do. That's the thing.

And then to be such a tough critic of that person is a— that's a lot of— that's a lot of extra stress. It feels like.

Yeah, yeah, I'm getting better at it for sure. Yeah, it's weird, um, but I'm sure you understand this, like looking at yourself through the eyes of others. Like, no one should know this many thoughts about themselves. Like, when everyone's like, what superpower do you want? I've never understood when people were like, I want to be able to read minds. I'm like, fuck that.

Yeah, I want to know what somebody's thinking because half these people I wouldn't either, dude. Especially if you're at like some place and everybody's just a damn pervert or something, you know? And that would be most of it.

No way, man. No way.

Even if you're at like— even if you're just at a dang, um, uh, Golden Corral, no matter where you are, everybody is like—

I bet you would read mine, you'd be like, my dad loves a Golden Corral or a Shoney's.

Dude, my stepdad, he was in one of the wars, and, um, one of them, he would— dude, after they would go to like the Golden Corral, whatever was like Chinese Corral or something, or like the Yella Bin or whatever it was called, he would sit my mom in the car and then he would go back in and apologize for fighting these who we thought were the same ethnicity people when he was in Iwo Jima or something like that.

He'd go back in and apologize every time?

Yeah. He would go back in and just kind of say, give his peace. And it was like this moment that he kind of had where And I think it's probably like that for some people. That's like they probably went and fought in a war and then the only people they ever saw from that culture again was that like a— if a small restaurant popped up in their town 40 years later, that's got to be crazy.

Yeah, they all— I don't know, I can't imagine that. Yeah, they're interested in that. That's one of my favorite things to read about is historical fiction.

Yeah, you watch every— any of those war movies?

Yeah, my dad loves a war movie. Jarheads, I don't know how many times that's been on in our living room.

Oh yeah. Yeah, dude, my uncle even has the soundtrack to Jarheads. I'm like, who has the soundtrack to this shit?

On CD or what?

I think it might be. He said it was Blu-ray. He went, he went like, he went all in on, on Blu-ray.

Yeah.

And he lost a lot.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, dude, I like some of those war movies. I think because it just make you feel something, you know?

Yeah. Feels like you're learning a little.

Feels like you're learning a little, but also, yeah, and it makes you feel something. I like something if there— I'll say this— if there's a little bit of loss in something I like that shit.

Yeah, keeps your attention going.

I like something that's got a little bit of loss in it. Some of your music, and probably a decent amount of it, to me seems like it's about kind of like wanting love or hoping for love, but not kind of being able to make it work or I'm trying to think what I'm trying to say.

I think you're doing great. That was a good question so far.

They are?

Yeah.

Thanks, dude. Yeah, I think I just get— sometimes I get worried, or not, I don't know. I mean, I get nervous.

I was so nervous before I came in here today. Were you so nervous? Yes. Why?

What do you mean? You're the most confident person there is.

I don't know.

I— well, you are, you know.

Well, I mean, you got to put on the suit.

That's true. And the rest of you will show up.

That's some— I'll Told you, I learned, you know, Southern Baptist in a small town is you learn to put on a face a little bit. You know what I mean? You can't let everyone know everything that's going on all the time. But also it's like I run out of the ability to do that.

So—

Well, you get burnt out of it.

Yeah. And I just— that's been something I've had to work really hard on is the mental of this game. And I knew the whole time that would be the toughest thing for me.

Really?

Yeah.

Well, you can't pin yourself to the way somebody else operates. That's something that I've done over the years. Like, if they can do it, I can do it. I'm not the same person as them, right? And our paths aren't the same.

Yeah.

And I mean, I've burnt— I've floored it for 200 miles when I had nothing in the tank.

Well, I think it's because you are similar in the way where you're like, you kind of fly through life by the seat of your pants, you know what I mean? And it's like you're just following your gut on what you should do with your life. And instead of like, you know, if you go to school to be a doctor, like, you know, you do this many years of school to go and you're gonna do this and this. Like, we I have no idea how this is going to— every single day is different. Every single day something could happen that could change our lives for the best or the worst. And you just never know.

Yeah.

And so I think you learn this skill to watch others in the way where you learn. And I think in the beginning it pushed me. I would always compare my work ethic to— Lainey was a great one for me. Yeah. But I don't know how she's superhuman.

She is.

I don't know how she does what she does. Um, but yeah, I'm different than that, you know? Like, I have to go be in my house and recharge, recharge, rest.

Yeah, take time. Same. I gotta do— I mean, I'm getting dang IVs, I'm petting animals for peace or whatever. They have this— yeah, they got a peace petting place that's out there and you go pet those horses for peace or whatever.

I just got some horses.

Did you?

Yeah.

God, I'm thinking about getting a Doberman. It's big, but yeah. It's nothing like that.

It'd be crazy if you came in riding a Doberman and it was big enough to do that. It's just like you found Clifford, but he's a Doberman this time, and Ernest is on the other one, dude. Yeah, yeah, but he's actually on Clifford. Yeah, and he's dressed like a grillin' for sure.

There's like a hundred shades of Ernest. That's the crazy— and there's nobody who has like— is such a chameleon, I think, in humanity as Ernest, you know. Oh, my question. So I feel like a lot of your songs are about like wanting to like find a love or connect with love, but also like about like wanting independence, you know? Um, do you feel like you have like commitment issues when it comes to that kind of stuff, or do you feel like some of your songs stem from that sort of thing? Or like, do you find like a, like a common like root for some of your, uh purpose in your music?

You know, I think that's the thing that sometimes people think about too much, honestly, where it's like, what is the purpose to everything? What is the— what is the finished product? I don't know. I'm only 26. Like, yeah, it's like I'm just writing about— I'm not going in the room thinking, okay, I need an up-tempo song today and I need it to be perfect for radio, or I need to write this type of acoustic thing. You know, like, I'm going in there and just writing songs. Like, whatever comes out that day comes out, you know? And I'm really big on not forcing, you know, just if I feel like I'm in there and I'm not having fun, I'm like, why are we doing this? I somehow got to do the job I've always wanted to do. No way I'm not gonna let it be fun when we're sitting in here writing these songs, you know? So yeah, I don't know, just sometimes like I'll have a title that I really wanna write or someone in the room will say something and then it's just like, if all of you click on that title, you gotta chase it.

So yeah, I mean, and obviously, I mean, me being 26 and not married, I've been dating. I've been trying to figure that portion of my life out too.

Yeah.

Which is complicated when you have pretty much given your everything to this one thing.

Oh yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, I can relate to that. I spent so much time working that, yeah, it's like this was my first love. I liked work the most. And because work was reliable, it's like I knew what I got in, what I put into this, I'm going to get out of this one way or the other. And I'll know if it's fair or not. I'll know if it's a fair amount because I'll know how much I put in. That part of myself I can't lie to. So it's like, I'll know. And it's an even, it'll be even. It may not be exactly what I want, but it'll be, it will be fair.

But you know you gave it your all.

Yes. And to me, I know, I, I know. And so I know I will expect a certain return. And there's not somebody else there that, like, when, when it's a human, for me it's like, that shit's too— it's like whenever you first learn to ride that bike and you're doing that or whatever, you know what I'm saying? And then you just, you forget that, like, the— you're like turning the handlebars like this, you think they're the pedals, and Oh, if this starts happening, you're—

you're going down. You're going down. That's the scariest feeling ever.

Just the worst.

Yeah. Oh, so many scars from asphalt.

And then you hit the neighbor's gate or whatever and somebody just calls you like a queer, you know, something like that or something, you know.

That's the worst. I hate when that used to happen. Yeah.

And it's your dad driving by.

It's definitely your dad. It would definitely my dad.

And you haven't even seen him in like 2 years and you're like, this is how he shows up?

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, that's something I think about knowing what you're gonna— like, what you put in is what you're gonna get out. Do you feel like, um, because now you've kind of hit this level of popularity that's a little bit different, and that's kind of scary, right?

Yeah.

I mean, it's cool, there's a lot of great things, um, but that to me, that feels interesting because you kind of like, you almost can't put, put it back in the tube in a way. It's like, it's like, you know, it's once you kind of cross over a certain threshold of people knowing you, you kind of can't— your life can change and maybe people come and go in popularity, but you kind of can't go back to not being someone that was known.

I think that's another one of the hardest parts for me. And I think it's just people treating you differently. Yeah, I just— it's weird when somebody comes up and they're just like— it makes sense to me because if I were to see Stevie Nicks in the grocery store, like, I would be a little like, you know.

Yeah.

But it's weird when it's yourself, you know, like someone's coming up to you and they're like, oh my God, I'm gonna throw up on your shoes.

You're like, whoa.

Like, I am so weird, like, just, you know, immediately try to like level myself in a way. But, um, Yeah, that's an odd part, but it is cool. I'm starting to— I'm getting past the stage of like, what? Like, because it was so in the beginning, so new. Like, it was weird when somebody knew who I was, or when I'm sitting at the table out to eat with friends or family and somebody's like, hey, can I get 7 selfies with you? And I'm like, have like a half a meatball in my mouth. I'm like, bro, that's crazy.

Um, or you haven't even washed up, or you just don't even feel like a—

in the bathroom, have you ever had one ask you someone in the bathroom? You're like, bro, No, no. And then if you say no, I've had a girl, I was making my whole band do this ab workout routine. We were in P Fitness somewhere around the world. And this girl comes up to me mid-crunch. She's like, can I have a picture? And then I like, it was in the beginning and now I would be like, probably not right now. I'll sign whatever. You know what I mean? Just pick better time. But.

Oh yeah. In the beginning you'll give it all. You'll give abs.

But then I get up to take the picture with her and she just like, no, no, I just want to take one of you. You ever get that when they're like, want to take one of you and stay with you? And you're like, I was like, no, no, no, if I'm sweaty in this, you are too.

Yeah, so you're just what, some kind of pervert or whatever? Or you're just making a time capsule or something? You don't say you're just capturing me to keep me.

No, I just want to take one of you.

Yeah, I'm not doing all that.

What's your pose if someone to take one of you? You know, it's—

I'll tell you a funny story. I can't— oh, I'll tell them no. If somebody's like, I just want to take one of you.

Yeah, you're like, no.

I'm like, get— you get over here, you little urchin. You're getting in this bitch with me. If I have to stand here and look like shit, you do too. That's what I said.

Yeah.

Dude, a couple, probably like a year and a half ago, I started to have like, 'cause we would do meet and greets after every shows and maybe some of this sounds like kind of woe is me, like popularity talk. I'm about to literally say, feel a lot. And I'm not mean in that. I'm grateful that people come out to shows and I've been to a couple of your shows and I'm excited to go to more of them. I'm excited to come to that one in Tuscaloosa where you and Morgan are playing together.

Oh yeah.

And then I know you have your own tour and your new album that's gonna come out. But yeah, but nice. I couldn't smile anymore. This— the muscles in my mouth.

Oh yes, doing that fidget thing.

Yes. And then it got to the point where I just didn't even believe it anymore. My mouth had just— there was some disconnection between my true feelings and a smile because these were all kind of put-on smiles and some of them are real, but You know, you're just like, smile, you know, just smile, cheese, that type of thing. So I had to start doing this. So when all my—

that started?

Yes. So in all my pictures, I was like, I have to make another face. And this on me, like, it looks a little too— like, people are going to get scared, or the kids are going to kind of be scared a little bit.

So I think it's kind of nice.

So I'll do like, you know, like just anything. Yeah, but because This just started.

Yeah, that, that—

see?

Yeah. And we just— the, the closed mouth smile was nice. Well, no, no, that was different. You didn't do it the same that time.

Let me try one more time.

Yeah, well, no, kind of close. Try one more time, but don't squinch your lips so much. Let them loose. Leave them loose a little. Start from the side how you came.

Okay. Oh, what's happening? Nothing much.

Yeah, that right there.

Thank you.

Take a picture of that. Practice.

You're an artist. You're a conductor.

Well, thank you.

She's a conductor. Yeah, I remember the first time I saw, I was like, 'cause I didn't know your popularity really, I guess, the first time that I met you. And I remember I said something like, "Man, Lainey really does such a great job of controlling the stage," 'cause I was kind of complimenting her 'cause she really does. And you were, I can't remember what you said, but it was something like, I don't know if I said like something like—

no, you were like, you should try running, you should try running around the stage like that or something.

Oh yeah, that's what I said.

And I was like, you, first of all, you ain't never ever been to a show, so how you know?

I know, to show up and be judgmental like that.

Yeah. And then that—

yeah, I think I was just nervous.

I kind of move around a little bit. Well, I've thought about that moment multiple times because I'm like, should I move around more? Like, is that it? Like, has he seen things that I should do? Like No, I thought you should come to rehearsals and let me know.

I think I was just nervous and I probably didn't know what to say. And it was a woman. And so I was just trying to say something and maybe it wasn't. Yeah, I just didn't do the best supportive job. Yeah, probably.

Well, it panned out.

But yeah, I've seen it since and I'm not even going to weigh in anymore. You're obviously—

No, I really like it. You know, it really made me think extra hard about that. And I was like, damn, Theo thinks I'm lazy on stage.

No, I didn't think lazy. I, I didn't know. I, I had no idea.

Lazy?

No, I just can't—

she run— I don't know how she does it. She does the whole spin thing.

Now she does a lot.

I told you, she is—

she does a whole like Fantasia, almost like that. Like, yeah, yeah, she does.

When she does that spin thing, oh yeah, fall down 100%.

Just swinging that donkey around. I'm like, what is even going on out here? She has got it.

Yeah, that's probably what it is. I ain't got no balance like that.

You know what I mean?

I ain't evened out.

She's got them ballast tanks on her.

She's set up to go.

Oh, she's a pontoon, I'll tell you that.

She's locked in.

Yes, she's locked in. But no, what a great person to learn from and be around and even just to watch the things that she does and just to notice all those things. How is she able to engage with people so much? I don't know how Jelly Roll did it. Jelly Roll got burnt out though.

Jelly Roll, he's the same way.

But he got burnt out.

Yeah, I think it happens to everybody.

It'll get you.

Yeah, I mean, no one's actually doing it all. Yeah, I mean, everyone gets burnt out.

Yeah. Was there a moment you kind of had to take a step back? You take a vacation? What do you do for that sort of thing? Have you learned to incorporate that into things? Because you're already back out here, you're going to go on tour again.

Yeah, I'm still figuring it out. I think my team's figuring out a little better how to schedule in the time that's needed. But when you're in this boom moment, it's hard to say no. I mean, you're saying no to stuff that I'm like, I do kind of want to do that. But it's like, I'm thinking of things 6 months down the road. I'm like, I'll be able to do that. And then I get there, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm dying. Why did I do that?

What am I doing in this lemonade drinking contest?

Yeah. But then I'm like, if I turn it down, sometimes I'm like, come on, you can't. What's wrong with you? Why you can't do that? You're going to be— some people would kill to be playing that. And then I have that whole thing. So At last year, um, it just— like I said, I think the, the mental game for me is definitely the hardest part of this job. Like, I can do the gigs, I can do the shows, I can do that. And, um, I don't know, the, the burnout, I guess.

Like thinking you can work through it, I'll fight through it, I'll figure it out.

Yeah. And I, I mean, Lord, we, we, we toured pretty much minus a couple weeks here and there from 2022 to 2025. And I mean, hot and heavy. Most of that was in a van and then one bus and we're all packed on there. And it was still like, it just happened so fast. So it's like we're still doing these things, but these things are happening. And so everyone from the outside is like, man, that's pretty nice. And you're like, well, we're still getting there. We're still doing our best.

Yeah. And a van, people don't get even enough credit Oh, for even being in a damn van.

Somebody asked me the other day, they're like, do you miss that? I'm like, hell no, I don't miss that.

I think people should get a tax credit for being in a damn van, dude.

Years of that.

If I see a van pull up, any van, and somebody gets out of the back of it, yeah, I start clapping immediately.

Immediately.

I don't care what they're doing.

I don't care if they are, you know, very religious and that's, you know, when the side door's broken or whatever, or they are just a big family I always wondered what people thought we were traveling around when they'd see us get out at a gas station, and it was just like me, my photographer Kaylee, and a whole bunch of tattooed guys just crawling out of a van looking disheveled, smelling like Doritos probably.

Oh yeah.

And whiskey.

Doritos are good at over 50 miles an hour in a damn van.

Oh yeah, I lived off some gas station food for years. Taquitos from the gas station.

They're good. They're good.

In the moment.

Yeah. But some of my problem is if you— I'll get a bag and then I'll go get them in the middle of the night and get more of them.

Yeah. You ever get a crunchy one where it just ruined the whole thing?

It's like, uh-uh, the taquitos?

Yeah.

I like them crunchy.

Or a hot dog.

Oh, hot dogs are good, but they're just sometimes they don't honestly tell you how long they've been on that twirler. Out there on the little riverboat.

They just put them back out there every so often.

What is that? They put a bunch of hair curlers together and started just grilling them bitches.

Who knows what kind of meat is really in there? There's no fucking meat in there.

What are you talking about, dude? This is some— this ain't no meat.

Y'all wonder—

my—

I have a lady that's like doing all my health stuff. You don't think so? The buffalo chicken? You don't think that is?

I bet there ain't a half percent of meat in there, baby. This is meatless. They should just say something warm on the outside of it. But yeah, when you get those Hunt Brothers pizzas, those are spicy.

Oh, the breakfast one?

Yeah. Fire. Dude, one time—

That's what I grew up on.

On Hunt Brothers?

Yeah. I think it's Hunt Brothers. Is there an S at the end of it?

Was there more than one? There you go, girl. Hunt Brothers.

I've been saying it wrong the whole time. Hunt Brothers.

But that's what it is. That's kind of Southern stuff.

That's how they say it.

Have you seen the Country Hoodlums people? Have you seen those Instagram? Pull them up, dude, if you can. I put them on a page the other day.

The what?

On my links page. This is the kind of place I grew up. I'll show you right here.

Oh, I can't wait to see this.

This is like our street. What you doing, Christy?

I'm about to burn his shit up. He wants something about me on fucking Facebook Live. Call my shit while he was calling me 5 minutes Well, Christy, he loves—

he loves— Glass loves those, those golf clubs. Glass love those golf clubs. This the kind of shit was going on on our street. No, no, you for real? No.

And you know what he did? Probably. Oh yeah, he done fooled around and he about to find out.

Oh my goodness, man. That's the kind of shit we need more of, I think. But yeah, this is just the kind of— have you ever seen them Country Hoodlums?

Oh man, this is like a whole thing.

They have probably like 200 or 300 clips now. They put up clips every day and it's just them. It's just like people living their lives.

Oh, oh, like it's real life people.

It's not like— and this is the one Earn— people always say this guy, or him and Earn, seem like each other. No, go hit that top left one.

What you doing? Keep them coming. Janet.

Miss Janet. Yeah, let's see it. He just got baptized, actually. Let's do it. Hey, Jean. And I'll say this, the women are the people, they hold it together in this group.

Usually are.

Yeah, but that's kind of— I feel like that's kind of enough, man. You know, about 4 years ago, I was jogging somewhere. And it was a pretty good area. It was all right, I don't know. Yeah, some couple halfway houses. But I was going for a jog and I saw a snail out there, and he was trying his best, but you know, they, they don't even have feet but they're still going forward. They're, you know. So I picked that snail up and I moved him. I moved him probably 19 inches, brother. Saved him a month of travel. I'd consider that a power move. Just like how hiring Morgan Morgan is a power move. Morgan Morgan is America's largest injury law firm. They have over 100 offices nationwide and more than 1,000 lawyers. With over $30 billion recovered for over 500,000 clients, Morgan Morgan has a proven track record of fighting to get you full and fair compensation. That's what they do. If you're ever injured, you can check out Morgan Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information, go to forthepeople.com/theo or dial #law#529 from your cell phone. That's forthepeople.com/theo or #law#529.

This is a paid advertisement. Do you, um, did y'all have like a fa— like a most popular restaurant in your town growing up?

Not really. I mean, a lot of chains, um, like I said, the Shoney's. My dad loves a, a, uh, like a— what do you call it— a buffet.

Oh yeah.

Oh, any buffet, the soft serve ice cream you got to get at the end.

At the end.

How big can you make your own ice cream cone?

Make it tall, baby. Make it long. You like it long? Um, Shoney's was something else, dude. And they would give away these stuffed animals up front, and the sewing on them was real bad. By the time you got them bitches to the car, they was more of a— they looked— they was starting to give out a little.

Did you go to IHOP?

We went to IHOP.

But Waffle House?

We went to Waffle House. Yeah, dude, at our Waffle House they had like— it was like our town was like at the end of like the longest bridge in the world. For a while anyway, and then they built a different one, but then that one got tore down, and so we were back. Anyway, they had a, um, they had a, uh, so the people that would get DUIs on there at night or DWIs at night, the police officers would just drop them off at the Waffle House. They wouldn't arrest them, they just take them down there and drop them off. Yeah, it's really cool. I'm just like, hey, stay here and sober up. So when you was a kid, you was running around, you could just pop in there and just hang. You'd be hanging out with drunks and eating with all these cool drunks and shit.

I think that's a lot of Waffle Houses late at night. Yeah, ours was too.

It's kind of like a little mini rehab.

Somebody smoking a cig outside, one of the cooks, you know.

Oh, definitely.

I'll be in, baby.

Yeah, yeah. Or dude, the best is the white guy that can't even blink his eyes, so he's so geeked up and he's just fucking making eggs, boy.

Dude, so many, so many things.

Oh, he'll just rip an omelet out of a chicken's ass. That dude's ready.

They're all yelling at him.

Yes.

The best are the fights in there when they start fighting.

It's so closed environment in there when they do the fights. I don't like being in the cage.

They do the fights, so you've seen them?

Yeah, it's like, I don't like being in the cage. I want to be outside the cage if they lock the door.

That's how you sit on this side of the bar and they are on that side.

Oh, that's— yeah. Oh, you mean the employees fighting? Yeah, I don't like—

just random ones. I like to go to Waffle House and watch fights.

Yeah, well dude, the one in, uh, in Baton Rouge used to do a Look up Valentine's Day Waffle House Baton Rouge. They did a special thing. Did they do it at other ones you know about?

Yeah, I— they like the decorations.

Yeah, they would decorate it and you could make a reservation.

Yes, where they put like a white tablecloth. Yes, that—

it's romantic.

I would really like that.

Waffle House for Valentine's Day 2026, romantic and affordable. Let me read up on that a touch.

Mhm.

Because I know my sister's fiancé took her to this. Uh, let's be honest, not every Valentine's date needs candles, tuxedos, and stress. Many couples now choose Waffle House for Valentine's Day because it feels real, relaxed, and easy on the wallet. If you've been wondering whether it's actually worth trying, you're not alone. Let's walk through what experience is like and how to make it special.

I like that.

Heart-shaped hash browns. You kidding me? You know they have that? Steak and eggs with extra sides to share.

I think I've been to Waffle House on New Year's Day for the past like 5 years. Oh gosh, even 6.

Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful. They used to have like a badge or like a recurring partner system. Chocolate pie slices and strawberry milkshakes. Served as a simple date night drink?

A steak from a Waffle House. Hell yeah, just doing it up, dude.

I met a woman off the internet once and she was from another country. She'd never been to a Waffle House and I took her to one and she loved it.

That's one of my red flags. If a guy's like, let's go— I'm like, let's go to Waffle House early in the morning. He's like, no.

He says no.

Let's go to Cracker Barrel. I feel like Waffle House over Cracker Barrel.

I don't know.

I don't know. Depends on the— if I want pancakes.

I don't know. I don't— a lot of these pancakes these days are too hot. They're too fluffy and fat for me. I like that bitch like it's— look, somebody already tried to eat it and it said hell no. I like that thing tough. I like a—

what does that look like?

Just a pancake. I like that. Yeah, flat, kind of burnt. I don't like that big fluffy— it looks like part of a piece of, like, an actual part of a layer of pancake.

I think that's a flapjack.

Yeah, it could be. What is a flapjack? Bring it up because, yeah, people are wandering around. People are eating hotcakes.

What is the difference between pancake and flapjack?

People are eating all of them, Ella. I don't know. A British flapjack is a simple, chewy, and only baked bar made by melting butter. No, don't even pull up with that shit. I'll burn your damn golf clubs if you pull that shit up again.

It's not that bar thing.

No, it's not. It is a— I like that. Now, some people came out with something Here we go. A flapjack is a baked oat bar. This isn't it, man.

Yeah, I think it is the oat bar.

Well then, I've been getting something else. I call it a flapjack. I like that thing that's real, just kind of a little more flimsy, kind of looks like it'll fucking slap your ass if you walking by. You know what I'm talking about?

It would make the sound.

Yeah. Finally, your brother made a sound, so he's having a good time. And I'll tell you something, I don't love, uh, a ton of syrup. I like a fair amount, but I don't like too much.

I love it.

You do? Do you like condiments and stuff like that? Are you a condiment person?

Sauce? Yeah, anything. I love it.

You ever had that tzatziki sauce? Bring it up. Yeah, you've had it.

That Greek sauce?

No, tzatziki. Bring it up. No, I've never heard of that yet.

Tzatziki.

Don't even fucking tell me that's how y'all spell it.

What did you just say?

Zachariah sauce?

I said Leviticus 4:13. That's what I said, dude. I said Copernicus 12:6.

Yeah, I've had that sauce before. Yeah, people say it again.

Is it, uh, is that tzatziki? I want that tzatziki, baby. Yeah, people love that tzatziki. Now what I will say is this, I, I, I do like How do you prefer it? Tzatziki? Yeah, just straight up in the little, uh, with a little bread thing, or— oh, I'll take it with a pita. Usually I'll have it, but I'll have a little— I mean, I've never taken one and drinking one or whatever. Like, my sister used to steal all those little coffee creamers from the freaking place my stepdad would take us, and she would drink them in her bed at night. All those little— dude, the little ones, the hazelnut one, that cannot be good. That's sleepy. That's sleepy little bitch would fucking finished off 6 of those and wondering why she's having nightmares because you're drinking damn stolen milk.

Okay, I don't understand how those stay good out for so long. I don't ever understand. And why can condiments stay on the tables at restaurants for so long but they can't at the house? Yeah, I got a lot of questions.

But no, they used to put them— they used to put the creamers on a thing of ice in some places that I think still have.

They still do. Yeah.

But some of them, those hazelnut ones, those are bad for you.

They'll just give it to you in a coffee mug. Yeah, yeah, it's like piling them in a coffee mug and hand it to you.

Oh yeah, somebody was just stacking them in like that. But my sister would have 6 or 11 of them bitches in there complaining she's got an upset stomach. Bitch, of course you do.

She's probably gonna have the upset stomach for the rest of her life due to that.

And she already had a damn liver transplant. You ain't getting nothing else. Mom got her that when we were kids.

And what'd you get?

I didn't get shit, dude. I remember I got roller skates that were way too big for me.

What were you like? What did you do?

Me? I was pretty good, I guess. I don't know. I was kind of a— I like to do my own thing. I just like to hitchhike and just have angry thoughts, I think, a lot as a kid.

Yeah. What did you do? Did you like play sports or—

Yeah, I played basketball. What did I like to do? I like to be on my bike when I was a kid. My dad was super old, so we was always like messing with him and shit. My dad was like— my dad was 70 when I was born, so he was an old guy. Yeah, he was old. And my brother used to come in the room. I've told this before, my brother would come in the room and he'd be like, Dad's dead. And I'd be like, what? He'd be like, yep, go in there, go in there, he's dead. And I'd go in there and he wouldn't be dead.

Yeah. How many times did that happen?

Oh, well then this is how weird it started to flip after a while. Because he'd be like, "Dad's dead." And I'd be like, "He freaking better be dead." Or you're dead. Or I'm going to whip your ass.

Yeah.

So it got to the point where you hope if dad's alive, somebody's getting their ass beat. Which is a crazy concept to have.

You have to go in there and check one more time.

Yeah. When your dad is barely alive.

You just go in there kind of pissed off. This.

There's 3 pictures. I mean, look at the top. Look, top 4 actually are all me. Zoom in on all of those. God, that looks good. That one's me.

No, it ain't.

Yep.

No, it's not. Well, is it really?

We had some tough years. Yeah, I mean, obviously. Bring that kid back up, dude.

Dude, that is not you.

We had some damn tough—

what's going on with that little thing on the side.

Oh honey, that's a fade, girl. That's a 1 into a 19. Haven't you ever seen that cut?

That's crazy. It's like a bowl cut with like a weird shaped bowl.

That's a Christian cut right there.

Yeah.

Who cut your hair growing up, Ella Langley?

Um, all kinds of people. I have a bad tendency to cut my own hair.

Yep. Yeah, I like that best. I really— there's something about it. What— why do you do that, and why have you enjoyed that?

I don't know, because it doesn't always go— most of the time it goes bad. That's how I got bangs in the first place. I stopped— I was wearing a cowboy hat for a while, and then I took it off because it was windy one show, and it was pissing me off, and I decided, you know what, I'm gonna take it off. And I liked how my bangs, like, were kind of around my face. Um, and like 20 minutes before I walked out on stage, I decided to cut my fringe a little bit, and it was so bad. There was like one piece right here, and I was shooting the COVID art for my first record that next week, and Kaylee was like, I hate you.

At least she was honest with you.

So I had to get— I just told her, full send it with the bangs. Yep.

And now you're in.

I don't think I can ever change it.

Yeah, you love it that much, huh?

It changed my life a little bit.

Really?

Yeah, I would say. I mean, I don't know. The bang thing is like—

I think it's the music.

Well, yeah, but yeah, I mean, well, maybe a little bit the music, but mainly the bangs.

The bangs are nice. You know what's funny is there's a— I think there's, there's a, like a— what's it called? Like a big poster board in the air or whatever.

I don't know what you're referencing right now. It looks crazy.

Billboard. There's like a billboard over on Hillsboro Pike, and I thought it was you on it.

I think I know what board you're talking about, dude.

Here's a funny thing. I'd go by it sometimes, and I'd always just rattle off something or sing a couple of your lyrics to it, and then somebody told me— somebody told me it's not you.

It's not. I— but I know what you're talking about. And what do you mean you'd sing a couple lyrics?

I would just rattle off something, you know.

I was like, oh, just to be like, what's up?

Yeah, there's Ella, just seeing how she's doing? Oh, she's still high and mighty up on that billboard up there with— and I think it's for an earring company. I said, with her fancy earrings or whatever. Big earrings too. I mean, this lady had damn bird cages hanging off her head over there.

Nope, wasn't me.

It wasn't you though.

Wish it was.

God, yeah, you— I'd have gotten to spend more time with you. So me too, it would have been nice, I think. Um, at school, sometimes we ask about Valentine's Day. Did you have a thing at school where you had Valentine's at school, or was y'all school too small to even give a Valentine? Because other people's feelings could really get hurt in that sort of closed environment.

No, we still had Valentine's Day.

God.

Yeah, we still did. It did. Every feelings did get hurt. Feelings.

If there's 9 kids in my class and there's Valentine's Day, dude, I couldn't cut that.

That was— I never forget this kid. He was in our class. His name was, um, his name was Freddy, and he brought in this little bear and he gave it to me, and he's like, if you— for you to have this bear, you got to be my girlfriend. I was like, sorry, buddy, can't do it.

I'm a horse.

And then he gave— yeah, but then he went over to Shelly and gave her the bear.

No, he didn't.

Then I was like, hey, Freddy, come back over here. I will be your girlfriend. Oh damn, give me that bear back.

So you saw that competition and Ella said, I ain't losing out.

Yeah.

And Freddy was willing to get a woman an animal. Dude, I remember we had a guy by us, he was a taxidermist or whatever, and I just remember he— I remember he had all these hard stuffed animals. I didn't know Hard ones.

Yeah.

Yeah. I was like, that dude has the hardest stuffed animals ever. And he gave me like a squirrel because my mother said I'd love it over there all the time. She'd find me over there and he gave me like a squirrel. And I slept with that thing. My mom said for like 4 years, this big taxidermy-ass squirrel.

No, you didn't.

With a hard tail. Yeah.

What do you mean, a hard tail?

He had it. Bring up a— look at that bitch. Yeah. Look at the one. Yeah, that's a stripper.

I've never seen one done like that before.

Look at the one that's a stripper right there.

That's the one that you had for sure.

I think— I mean, I don't know, I was young, but I was happy to have it. Yeah, look at the one canoeing in its own tail. That's pretty great actually. Did it have a name?

Huh?

Did you name this? Yeah, Mr. Tucker. So he could have been trans, I have no idea. Okay, a couple questions about your album and then your new— what'd you say? Say real quick, Ella, could you Pull your mic to the right just a little bit. You come help her, Trevin. She doesn't need any help. Sorry, that's perfect. This is Ella.

Why'd you say that?

Just because I'm thinking if there's one lady that doesn't need any help, it's probably you.

I think sometimes I need help.

You do?

Yeah.

Yeah, I know, sometimes I do too. I think that's one tough thing about like when you like kind of like when things start like— I think if you're like a person that's kind of controlling or, you know, you like to have a say in everything you do Do you feel like you're that kind of person? Like you were, that's one thing that I love about Morgan is Morgan knows exactly what he's doing. He is dialed in to a T, I feel like, on what is him and what represents him.

Yeah, I'm very much that way. I mean, every bit of what I do, I have my hand in it. I'm co-producing the record, I'm writing stuff for the music video, co-directing that. Making the set list for the show and kind of creating that set. I literally drew out our set in my journal and it was like, gave it to the set designer and was like, this is what I want. And they literally made that for me.

So it's all you. So when people come to see this next tour, it's all you.

It's you. No, I mean, I have an incredible team.

Right. But it all comes from you originally.

Yeah. And it's interesting. It's hard to find people that— sometimes people get stingy with your art in a way. And it's funny, it's like a pride thing. And I care so much about the people that I work with, it being a collaborative experience, you know? And so everyone on my team, it really is that, whether it be my stylist or my makeup artist or Kaylee over here, who's my photographer and also creative director of my management, you know? My band, it's kind of like, I don't tell my band to get up there and play this dang thing lick for lick. I want us to get up there and have fun and play music. And obviously there's a way a show should go, but I don't know. I just think that sometimes people put these weird perimeters around such a creative thing. And something that I Think You Look Like You Love Me did for me was everyone told me that song was not gonna work. They were all like, what? What do you? My label tried to get me to sing.

After y'all had cut it or before?

Yes, after we had cut it, they were like, We really think you need to go back in and sing these verses. I was like, I'm not singing it. And they're like, you need to sing it. And I just fought them really hard on it.

And they thought you need to go back in and sing Riley's verses? Is Riley the one sings on that?

Yeah, but no, like the— yeah, the talking part. You know, I was all but 22, I think, at the time. Yeah, yeah. No, they wanted me to sing that, go back in. They're like, this is like going to be the worst performing song in the record.

No. Yeah.

And so I think with that one, I mean, it was just different.

And you knew it wasn't?

I mean, I didn't know what it was gonna do, but I believed that—

You believed in what it was though?

I believed that it was different. I believed that it was something that made me smile and I enjoyed singing it. And like I said, once I put my mind to something, if I go in and cut something, it's because I believe in it.

It feels like you get to know you some in that song a little bit too. I mean, there's something about when somebody's talking to you, talking as well. I think there's—

yeah, tells a story in a different way.

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Dang, who's out there telling Ella Langley no?

I don't know.

But have there been parts you've like, like, like as things got busier, you're like learning how to be like kind of like a boss, a leader? Not necessarily a boss, but like a leader.

Yeah.

And then those are roles that you have to step into, I think, if you want to be like exactly how you want to be.

Mm-hmm.

You know, 'cause otherwise there's like, especially in music and Hollywood type of stuff, it'll make something for you and serve it out there, you know? But if you wanna be on top of it, it takes a lot.

It does. I think that's one of the harder parts of this job and kind of what I've watched from watching other artists my whole life, obviously wanting to do this, paid attention in a way. You really do have to get up and fight to do it the way you want to do it every day.

Isn't that crazy?

You do. It's exhausting. And people all day, and the more success, the more people care about what you're doing. You know what I mean? In the beginning, in a label, you know, when I was first signed, it wasn't a competitive deal. You know, I didn't really have that much going on. And it was more of like a banking on me type of a situation.

Right.

So now, you know, everyone is paying a little closer attention to what's happening, obviously.

The pressure feels a little bit more.

And everyone has an opinion, and it's like that across the board. And that's just because it's working and everyone wants it to stay working. And, you know, you know yourself the best and your artistry. And like, at the end of the day, I'm the one that's going to have to do that interview. I'm the one that's going to have to sing that song every night. I'm the one that's going to have to go take those pictures. I'm the one that's going to have to work with these people. And I think it's just constantly reminding them of that and not compromising who you are as a human being because, well, this is how it's usually done. I hate that phrase. I hate, well, this is what you would usually do. I was like, well, I don't give a rat's ass what you'd usually do. I do not want to do it like that. I really don't. And I'm going to stick my heels in the mud.

Yeah. I don't even have any heels and I'm just going to put my feet in there.

You do have heels. That's the bottom of your foot.

This is. Oh yeah, you're right. And I'm going to put them in the mud.

Stick them things in there.

I don't want to do it how you want it. That's— dude, that's been the pilot light of my entire existence.

Oh yeah, do it like this. That's the worst thing you could tell me if you don't want me to do it.

Dude, I don't want to do any— I never want— dude, I couldn't even— my eyes wasn't even open and I was like, I ain't doing shit like you want me to.

Yeah, keep your eyes straight.

Fuck you.

How about that, bitch?

I'm coming with a remix right out the gate. Damn, that's hilarious. Um, oh, congratulations, you guys. Your tour with Morgan starts, um, April 18th in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Bryant-Denny Stadium.

I know, home state.

That's so crazy. It's cool.

I think it's the first concert to be in there since like, what, 19-something?

Bring it up.

1970-something. I think Alabama was the last thing. Oh hey, Bring it up. Oh my God, Kaylee took that over there.

Did she? God, take some of me, Kaylee. I need to live like that. I need to get a damn brooch.

A brooch?

Or, I don't know, sorry, a nice— I mean, a nice necktie. I'm just joking. I'm trying to make your brother laugh. The only joy I'm having is when you guys laugh.

That's the— that's the gig, huh?

Well, yeah, it's just nice when people laugh. I feel okay. Yeah, Alabama Stadium show right there at Bryant-Denny. When was the last one? That's what we're asking. Honestly, this guy's just looking at pictures of men online. That's the dang football team. We just want to know when was the last one. Just ask somebody. Fucking ask, uh, who's that Roll Tide guy? Oh, ask Roll Tide Willie. Yeah, he's actually from near our Dude, he's— he was in the military with my buddy's dad. He used to be pretty— not normal, but better. That's where he's from.

What?

Yep. God bless him. The last concert held at Brian Denny Stadium was a performance by the band Alabama in 1992, which followed a series of Bama Blast concerts in the early 1980s. A 2008 concert with Alan Jackson was scheduled but canceled.

Dang.

So that's been 30, 33 years.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about that one.

That's crazy.

And we're direct support this year. We've really worked our way up on this tour. First tour, we were first of 4 we did with him. Last year we were second of 4. This year we're direct.

Congratulations.

Just climb your way, you know what I mean?

He says, I mean, I've, uh, spoken with him about you, or just And he's like, she's got— she has it. She has got it.

He's been really cool.

He's a unique dude, man.

Well, you know, I mean, him and Earn and Hardy and that whole crew has just been super kind to me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, there's— that whole group is so much fun. I remember right whenever I moved in town, we had a podcast studio. I was living over in Wedgewood, Houston. I just was renting a house and putting a podcast studio, and the guy was always stopping by. He's like, you have a podcast studio in here? I was like, no. And just like, he's like, for some reason this guy hated podcasts. Weston or whatever. And, um, and one day we got to have Morgan and, uh, came, and then we had like kind of just snuck out Hardy and Earn, and we had a blast over there. But that was fun. That was like an early episode that we had here in town.

Yeah, those shows are going to be cool.

It's gonna be so great. Um, and, uh, oh, there was something else I was gonna ask about. Oh, and then you're doing Stagecoach too. Yeah, me and my buddy are DJing there.

Really? Yeah, I DJ'd before.

No, but it looks so dang easy. Yeah, I'm just joking, Diplo, but it looks, it looks pretty damn easy. So yeah, that's it.

Yeah, I don't know, I've never tried that.

But, um, yeah, me and my friend Caleb Presley are play— are going to, uh, play at Diplo's honky-tonk show.

Stuart met him.

You did? I did. And the Glutty Balls. Oh, they're great, aren't they? Yeah, I love them. Glutty Balls is He is. Yeah, he loves a nice cheese too. If you, if you know of a restaurant in the area, he'll tell you about cheeses in any area. He almost has like a, like a—

yeah, you will. You know that? Like he already knew that. Yeah, yeah, he loves them cheeses.

You know, I met him over a party listening to Hardy and, uh, sorry. I'm just dropping horrible cheese country music lyrics here.

I thought it was great.

I thought it wasn't too bad.

That's how easy it is.

But no, that's— so that's going to be cool. I'm excited. I'm excited to get to see you play out there. Let's talk about— and thanks so much for spending time with us today.

Thanks for having me.

Appreciate it. Appreciate it. We're happy to have you. We had this girl in yesterday. Have you ever seen that girl? She's like on TikTok. She has like— she has, um, stenosis. She has a like a syndrome. Cystinosis. Cystinosis. She keeps changing the name of it. But, uh, yeah, this is her. Have you seen her? She talks about the spice. A little bit of spice.

A little hint of spiciness. Like a little hint of soy sauce. A little hint of the tomato. You know, a little hint of the spice.

Tomato and ramen?

Yeah, it actually has like a hint, little hint of tomato.

Oh yeah?

Yeah.

What is a hint?

I don't even know. It just sounds like a weird word. That's me all the time.

Is it?

What even— what is even that? I don't know.

Just sounds like a weird word. Just say it first and figure it out later. Yeah. Um, you have your new album, Dandelion.

Mhm.

Or Dandelion. That's how people— some people were saying it.

Yeah.

Um, congratulations. Thank you. Um, Did you feel like you had to hurry up and get this out? Or— because I think sometimes coming off of, like, you know, like you said earlier, like, your career starts getting bigger and things start to feel like you don't want to lose the momentum, right? You work so hard to build a flame. Did it feel like any pressures? Like, what were some pressures that were involved with this, or was it just completely smooth? And is that a ridiculous question?

Nothing is ever completely smooth, I don't think, for real. Some— I don't know. Well, I don't know, maybe some things. Yeah, some things.

Some things, maybe. Yeah.

But this, um, this, this record, um, I mean, I worked on it for like a year and a half, um, so it still took a while. But I say— I keep saying the big word for this record is synchronicity. It did just feel like a lot of things while it was, you know, I'm co-producing for the first time while I'm full-time touring two different tours while you know, just trying to balance everything at the same time, get the vocals done, you know. And, um, it taught me a lot. And that's what was so cool about having Miranda to be a part of it, you know. Um, because she's just so honest, you know. You've met her and hung out with her. She's just so real.

Yeah, she's great. She likes barrel racing too.

Yeah, she does. Um, but she just, you know, she was just honest about, you know, days where I was like— she's like, you're burnt, dude. Take a step back. Yeah. But also, like, you know, some things I wanted to go in there, I'm like, can I say that? She's like, hell yeah, you can say that. You can say whatever the hell you want to, you know. Um, so like that confidence of someone that has done it, and like you look up their career so much, you're like, you know what, hell yeah, you know what, yes. Yeah, actually, I do want the cymbals to be louder right there. I do. And, um, no, it was, it was really cool, this whole, this whole record. I'm so excited about it. I've never been more excited about music in my life.

Really?

I think I've clicked in my artistry.

Let's go, Ella.

Yeah, I think I really have.

That's a pretty badass thing to say.

Yeah, I think—

Especially if you're somebody, you mentioned earlier that you're such a judge of yourself, that you get off stage and you're like, yeah, that was fine, but it wasn't as exact as I could possibly have been. You know?

Yeah, I just— man, this is as exact as I want it to be. I just— oh yeah, we had such a vision for it. Like, I had a hundred-and-something-song reference playlist of what I wanted sonically for this record.

And now, what do you mean? What does that mean?

I literally just went on Spotify and made a playlist of like all of these songs of the era I was listening for, like guitar tones and drum sounds and BGV, background vocal parts, and Do you start with that idea before anything? Well, actually it started with the title, "Dandelion." We had written that song. It's the oldest song on the record. It was almost gonna be put on the last record, but I pulled it at the last minute because I just kind of felt like sonically it's where I wanted to go. And I knew it was like the context was like, feels like I'm growing and I'm not just so hungover and doing debauchery every day of my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Maybe just on Tuesdays. But yeah, so I found out that dandelion tea is a detox for your liver.

Oh yeah.

And when I heard that, it was like a light bulb went off over my head. It's like, oh my God, a record called Dandelion coming after a record called Hungover. It's like you're just growing up. You're, you know, dandelions are resilient. They're kind of considered a weed. But I mean, what are kids going and picking out for their moms and bringing them? You know, it's a bunch of dandelions and they're actually spread on the wind, which is cool if it weren't for the —so that's a little random little nugget in there. But I mean, so much of that stuff is in this record.

God, I love it. Yeah, I mean— Sometimes I play it when I'm in my room or whatever.

You feel that? You feel like a dandelion?

I will play it. I'm not saying all that, but I will say I will play it sometimes.

You never have felt like a dandelion? I don't think so.

I don't know. I mean, I could have to read through my diary, but I don't think so. Probably not. But that's okay. That's okay. But I just— yeah, I mean, I love—

you're more of a rose. Okay, I'm more of a damn—

what's the plant that grows on your house even if you don't want it to? Yeah, I'm more of a kudzu.

You are more of a kudzu.

I'm more of a damn kudzu because they can't get rid of me. They're like, this bastard, I thought we put him out years ago. And it's like, bitch, I'm still—

you were growing under the porch the whole time.

And I'll tap on your window. I'm only playing. Late at night. Yeah, I'm like a damn fungus. Thank you.

Sorry. Thank you, sir.

I like to— I like to vine, but we'll go fungus. We'll go fungus. No, um, but no, I love listening to your music. It's great. I mean, I'll be standing— I'll be standing, and who am I to judge? It's great, dude. One time I said to Morgan, I was like, man, that song is good. And he looked at me and he goes, that song's great. And I was like, he's right. And he was right. You just kind of sat there in silence for a minute? I was just trying to, I think, be cool a little bit, you know? And he's like, no. And he was right.

Got kind of sweaty right when he said that.

Yeah, I think we were actually working out somewhere, so it was like, you know, extra. It was just like, I don't know what was going on. But I remember him saying, that song's great. I was like, I respected his confidence about it. Um, but no, I love listening to your music. It's great. But Fuck, quit saying that, dude. You sound like a fucking weirdo. I like listening to your music.

There's that smile again.

But here's what happens is I'll be talking to dudes and I'll be walking up and singing, or I'm at the dang market and some guy's by walking by singing it, you know, singing it. Yeah, just sing it. All of it. Be her. Yeah, just— yeah. Oh dude, yeah, my friend Alan the other day, he said I can't get I can't get this out of my head. And I was like, well dang, go look at some porno or something, you know, or go get a dang one of them nudie mags or something, bucko, you know. Um, that usually— yeah. But anyway, I was just saying, because that was— that song is more of like a women-focused song.

That's all. I wrote it with 3 guys. Did you? Yeah, Hardy's one. Did he? He does have long hair. He does.

And he has nice hair too. Um, well, tell me, like, so when it comes down to making the final songs, like, or did you want to play one?

You want to pick one out to play?

Yeah, play a song. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, of course. I'll give you all the titles. All right. And then you can just pick— let me see about one. Just pick one that's not out yet. All right. If you— well, how would you know? How would you know? I think I will know. Okay. Where was that sent to me at? Thank you.

Okay. All right, let me see that. Just put my number in here. Sorry, I'm just watching this. Sorry. Just got taken over by the devil. The dang devil is—

He's swiping around in there.

He's always looking at that.

It's like you hand it to your dad and he just keeps swiping and you're like—

Bro, if you give somebody your phone and they swipe one picture, Is there anything scarier? You have no idea what that could be.

You just swallow, it's, it's so hard immediately.

It could be casserole, it could be a damn somebody getting a tummy tuck.

What is this, something you meant to take to show your doctor later?

Oh, you're like, that's for my doctor? You're like, you want— you're going to show that young lady to your doctor? I like— I don't know, me and my doctor, I need to go to a meeting. Um, what about Last Call for Us? Yeah, you could play that one. Is it a fun one?

It's not as much fun, but it isn't— if you want fun, not that one.

Oh, that's true, huh? But it's—

I mean, I like this song. Oh my God.

I'll just listen and enjoy it.

Thank you. Of me and I'll let go of you. Here we go. We ain't ever gonna make this work. Let's close it out and go our separate ways. Soon as we go walking out that door, we ain't never gonna, ain't ever gonna be the same. It's last call for us.

Here we go, boy. Might cry a couple. Get a picture of Chuck tapping in there.

He's my ultimate hype man. We'll both— I can edit that in right there. This time alone, we won't come back here.

It's last call for us.

You can fade it out some.

I think we could play one more. We can, and then we can just pick which one.

Let's do that. That's good, because that might be sad, because what if somebody just put their animal down or something?

Then that's a song they want to cry to.

Actually, that's a good point.

That's why we put it out there.

Yeah, and thank you for that. Yeah. And I'll say this, I went and saw Dermot Kennedy one time. You ever heard of him, dude? And I didn't know people cried together in a big group at the Ryman, right? And so There was a woman crying on my back because she'd lost a pet. You just let her? I couldn't do— what am I going to do? Just let her. She said just push my legs back if they get up against you, and I was like, all right.

But, uh, it was special. That's a crazy Ryman show. It was. All right.

And I saw you at the Ryman. Remember you asked me to sing that part and I got scared?

Why did you get so scared?

Because I couldn't remember it all. There were words.

There's a teleprompter out there with the words on it. I didn't know that.

Nobody told me that. I did.

Yes, I did. I would have known.

A teleprompter, I know about that. I know about words moving at slow speed in front of me.

Yeah, there was one with the words on it and everything. I didn't know any of that. Yeah, they were like— everyone was like, he was upset. And I was like, well, why? I think I was upset.

I think I was bummed because I wanted to— I— because I like this. I like the music and song. Wanted to be helpful and everybody else was helping out. And then I think I just got too nervous. I didn't want to mess it up.

You would not. You could have come out there and said anything and it would have been good. I don't want— that's the fun part about that song. I mess up the words all the time. Yeah, all the time.

You do seem pretty much like you just kind of— you're willing to just roll with it no matter what.

Hey, this is a special show for y'all. I've never done it like this before. I can't help it. I'm human. I think, you know, in a world of you don't know what's real or not Like, I just think going out there and not being afraid to be humble a little bit in that way. I don't want to mess up the words. Like when I did What I Want with Morgan, I messed up the words almost every single time. I've never been so nervous to go out and do something. Really? I just feel like I could throw up before I walked out there every time. I was like, I just cannot. I could not remember those words. Like, here's me. Like, there ain't no hard feelings if you only want to act like lovers do for days. Like lovers do. And I couldn't stop. I literally just— You really? I just couldn't. I don't know. And I would have it, but then All right, POV, you go through this tunnel, you know what I mean? And you're playing in the stadium, it's the most people you've ever been in front of. You're walking out with Morgan Wallen, the— everything gets dark and there's smoke everywhere, and you got to walk out.

And I'm in pointy heels, and there's grates out there, so you got to make sure you're not falling down in those. You get up, and then here you go, you get one shot at it. There's no practice too, you know, you get like one rehearsal, you go out there, and it's like, okay, But doing it in front of 80,000 people is different than at 2:00 PM in the middle of the day. But what was awesome is the last time we did it is he came out and messed up the words. And I— when he did that, I started to laugh so hard because he was giving me so much shit about messing up the words. He was just like, you can't come out here and mess this up again. I was like, I might. I really am scared that I might. And so the last night he did, and it was like he just immediately could never say another thing to me about messing up the words. I love that. So that was nice of him if he did that on purpose or not. That's what he says now. He's like, that's why I did it to make you feel better about all the times.

Like, yeah. And he may have, who knows?

Nah, because when he looked back at me, it was pure frustration that he could no longer talk shit about me messing up the words. But it was even?

Yeah. That's hilarious.

Yeah, thank you.

Y'all do a great job on that one. Yeah, let's play one more then. Let's play something mellow that— well, let me think about one more. Let me try and pick one more.

Okay, can I just say yes or no if I think it's a good one?

Yeah, well, we'll take that part out. Okay, why? Because if people— if you say no, it's not a good one, that might—

they are, but maybe not for this setting.

Yes, for this setting. That's what I'm thinking about. Bottom of your boots. Yes. Bang, bro, that was my freaking one that I wanted.

That my dad gave me that title, actually. Yeah, I was like having a freak out one night. It's actually kind of a sweet story, but he— I was like, tell me about it then. Well, I mean, he was just giving me one of his, like, baby, you know, you're fine. He's like, you know, I love you from the bottom of my boots to the top of my head. Oh, that's a great title.

Anyways, that's as much of a dad as there is. Yeah, you know, pep talks. That's bottom to top.

Yep, bottom of your boots. Yeah, yeah, heck yeah.

Boy, if your heart's a revolving door, yeah, that's all right, but I'm looking for more. If you're gonna love me, lay it on the table. Tell me how you really feel, give it a label. If you're gonna hold me, don't just hold me all night. Better hold me like you wanna Yeah, they got them shoulders. Yeah.

Oh man.

Getting closer to a love song.

Hold me like you want to hold me for the rest of your life. If you're gonna love me, better love me too.

And back from the bottom of your boots to the top of your head. I love that. That's good. That's good.

That's good in there.

That's good. Enough slices. Dude, your brother is a great dancer. That's a beautiful song, dude.

But he is dancing though. I don't know, pretty good, buddy.

Heck yeah, I told you he's my— he's my hype man. Yeah, no, I would get him out there and have him do it.

Do you ever do that? No, but maybe we should. He's been streaming. Has he? Yeah, he's a streamer.

Yep. No, I haven't streamed. Mustache Stew. Mustache Stew. Okay. Oh yeah, I like that, man. There's not a lot of Southern streamers really, I don't feel like. I know, I feel like, um, I don't know, I'm getting a lot of exposure, dude. It's been awesome. Mustache Stew, you know, I got the brand, I got the stew. So type, I like it, dude. And is that, uh, a real hat from your sister's album? It is. Oh yeah, I gotta get that.

We brought you some.

Yeah, unreleased. Are they? Did you really bring one? Let's go! I can't even wait to freaking put it on whenever I get home. Um, that's a great song. Thanks for letting us play it. And I think, um, and what a great story to go with it, that it came from your dad saying that to you. Yeah, that's awesome. That's a nice reminder.

Should we do one more? I mean, I'll—

I will definitely be here for that.

He picked out a good one. I think we should do Broken. I'll do it. All right, just first chorus. And is it about Well, never mind. I'll just be quiet. You're figuring this town out one day at a time, ain't you?

Doing all right? Can we skip all the talking, baby? And don't try to find the right thing to say, 'cause the words ain't working on me lately. Tears just fall on a hardwood floor, gonna wonder why, gonna wonder what for. Don't ask if I'm doing all right. Can we skip all the talking, baby? Just let me, just let me, just let me be broken. Just let me, just let me, just let me be broken. One night, baby, just one night, let me feel everything that I'm feeling, and if it's all right, I'mma let it all out. I'mma let it all out tonight. So just let me, just let me, just let me be broken. Just let me, just let me, just let me be broken. You and me in the dark, just keep holding me tight. While I'm falling apart, baby, just for tonight.

Can't you hear this live with a crowd, you know?

Oh yeah, with their lighters. Lighters. People holding up pictures of people they've lost. Look at him. There we go. Literally. Let me get one shot of you with that lighter, dude. That's pretty clutch.

Just keep holding me tight while I'm falling apart, baby, just for tonight. Awesome.

Let me be broken. Yeah, a lot of singing choruses on this record. Like, I thought a lot about like wanting people to sing along to these songs.

Yeah, you thought about that a lot, you know?

I mean, I don't know, I just know it's important.

It's, it's—

sometimes there's so many words in songs that I'm just like, I cannot remember but I can remember the melody, you know. So a lot with these songs, I wanted them to be kind of easy to remember. Big singing choruses, like, you know, you hear that chorus once and you already knew how to sing it.

Yeah, yeah, because you want to feel a part of it. I mean, I think as a listener, you want to feel a part of it as quick as you can sometimes, especially if you're a fan of somebody. You're like, you know, if it fits you— some of them, you know, certain songs fit certain people better than others.

Well, maybe you haven't heard all the songs and you just know like one or two, and then you come to the show, but you can still catch on to songs throughout the show because Because I hate just standing there. I hate just standing there. I have too much ADHD to just stand there.

God, and you have to keep getting snacks because you don't know the song.

You're like, well shit, I'll get another snack, get another pretzel, I guess.

Yeah, I'll get another pretzel.

Maybe make it cinnamon this time.

Yeah, maybe I'll change things up or something and get a damn Diet Gatorade or whatever, which they never came out with, which I have written them about. Um, I have this— I had this, like, Choosing Texas is probably— it's the biggest song everywhere. Apparently they have like like somebody called it, they called it, they found an alien or something. He was singing it. I think like there was like a family of aliens they saw somewhere that were, they saw them singing it. Like it's number one on everything. It's like, you know, it's like the biggest song that's ever happened. Some guy, you see that guy in a coma who he kind of wakes up and mumbles one of the lyrics and then goes back into a coma. Yeah, he's like, just zooms right back, right off. No, I haven't seen that one. There's so many memes to it though. Have you seen a lot of those? Yeah. Let's— can we bring some up? What do you think about all these?

I think that it's, it's whatever people want to do with the song, you know. Once I put it out there, it's like, who knows what could happen. And I, like I said, this is what's going to keep songs alive, you know. It's— yeah, this does sound too It does sound real close to that.

Drinking Jack Off by Myself? Yep.

Yeah, I think it does. It does. And that, like, I'll get songs stuck in my head and parts to it, and I just have that right there stuck in my head, like, on repeat over and over again now.

Just drinking Jack Off by myself.

It goes like, drinking Jack Off.

And have you ever accidentally sung it like that on stage or no?

I feared that a lot. I really do, because I have the thing about me where it's like I have one specific thing I should not say, and then I'm accidentally going to probably say it. Like, I don't know why.

Um, God, yeah, yeah, because damn Satan's tickling you from the inside. Here's one right here. Oh yeah, it's Jew. There's Jews in Texas.

I see a new one all the time.

Drinking Jack up on myself, there's Jews in Texas, I can tell. And it's just a semi— a mixed guy, at least possibly a black man, fishing Fishing in a suburban man-made pond.

There's no way that there are fish in that pond right now. You don't think? No way.

I don't know. I bet there's some damn missing women in that shit. Pull up one more.

This— my dad loves that one.

It says, uh, some people can't see it because they're listening. Well, I'm expanding down. I can't help but cry because I farted, it says on the screen. So that's what they're saying she said. That's hilarious. Um, yeah, the only ones I've seen is The Jews in Texas and then, uh, Drinking Jack Off by Myself. It does.

It's like that You Can Be My Green Bean. You remember that thing? You can be my queen bee, Lord Remember that song? Oh, and everyone was like, you could be my queen.

Yeah, I used to do that.

You could be my queen.

Life's a bank deposit. You don't want them something with us. You say it. You could be my queen bee. Oh yeah, you could be my queen bee.

But everyone thought you said green bean.

Oh, you could be my green bean. Okay, I gotta stop, dude, before some real man shows up and chokes me out. Uh, can we, uh, Okay, moving on. Ella Langley. And then your own tour. You have your own tour. Yep. Is kicking off after or it's in between the one with direct support from Morgan?

Kind of back and forth some. We start in May. May what? May 7th. Where do we start? Toledo, Ohio. Yep. Toledo, Ohio.

I think that's when Vietnam was. Was that where Vietnam was? Or no, I know it wasn't. Sorry. I know Vietnam was not in Toledo. I think Vietnam started May 7th.

Oh, that's the day. I should not— it doesn't matter either way at this point.

Let's pretend that's not part of this. Um, well, you got double Marlowes on it. You got Dylan Marlowe and Cameron Marlowe, not related, two totally different singers, both great.

Caitlin Butts on there.

Trying to think if I've heard her before. Can you bring up Caitlin Butts?

You ain't gotta die to be dead to me, man. She is— she has an incredible cover of I went down to Tulsa. Oh yeah, yeah, she's incredible. She's— her voice is incredible. She's so fun. Her songs are fun. You know you're doing better on your own, so don't buy it. She's also really funny.

She's funny? Yes. That's the best. That's good. Yeah, yeah. One thing about funny girls Being on tour, there's nothing better than funny girl. A lot of funny girls I noticed, and this is something I noticed, is that a lot of them are from Philadelphia area. Yeah.

What made you notice that?

I just noticed it and I believed it.

Well, that's all you got to do.

When I noticed it, I believed it.

And then, then that's what it is. Yeah.

Sometimes you meet some funny girls from outside or from Philadelphia area. But anyway, Also Caitlin Butts, and I look forward to getting to meet her sometime.

She's really good. And then Gabriella Rose is first of three for almost the whole thing. She's incredible. Diplo was telling me something about her. I saw. She's so good. I believe in her a lot. She's young and she's still like, you know, finding herself in her artistry and, you know, doing the whole damn thing. But she's so good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The way she writes, it's like You can tell she means what she says. And then Lacey Kay Booth is another one.

So, my God, they are just some good women out there. Yep. And we are glad they're doing it well. Yep, we are glad.

Um, well, y'all are glad.

Sorry, I don't know, is this the weirdest interview? Is it okay, guys? It's awesome. Yeah, really good. Those guys are perverts, both of Um, Ella, thanks so much for hanging out with us. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Congratulations on all of your success, on everything that's going on, and, uh, just learning to like figure it out, because I think that's, that's one thing that everybody's trying to do. I think sometimes people think that like people like it are in some sort of limelight or going through some sort of like popularity or exposure or fame, that they—

there's like a conductor behind stage that's like telling you what to do every second of the day. Day? Yeah. No. Yeah, sadly, that ours is in there. Can you imagine what our conductors look like too in there? It's a mess.

If they pulled out whoever lives in my head from behind a building, from behind a building, and they're like, look what we— look what we found back there, I would like fucking hang him from the nearest rope, bro.

Did you ever watch the Inside Out movie?

And he wouldn't have pants on, I bet. Probably.

You're like, wait, you're telling me the guy in my head has never had pants He's never had pants.

Like, the officer's like, he doesn't own pants. We're like, what?

Um, we can't afford pants. Yeah.

Oh God, have I ever watched the Inside Out movie?

Yeah, it was like the characters that live in your brain, the cartoons. Oh, you would love this movie. I actually think that you would.

It's incredible. I never seen this.

You should, you should see it with your eyes. It's very good. Okay, it's like about all these characters. Like, they all are like, it's like sad and Mad. There's like one main girl, and then there's like a— I don't know what the other one is. Joy. Yeah, there's some anger, disgust.

Oh, I see it.

I see all of them. They're all labeled up there. Oh wow. Anyway, it's just always made me think about that. I appreciate that. Welcome. Just something for later on the plane, whenever you're on a plane.

Yeah, after I get done listening to Dandelion, then. Yeah, I'll, uh, I'll put on Inside Out. I'm sure the people sitting next to you like this guy's going through it.

No, no, if someone came up on you watching that, they'd be like, Yeah, for sure. Probably. It's kind of crazy that that's where we're at now.

If an adult came up on another adult watching a fucking cartoon, they'd be like, yeah, man, you do everything's fine.

You must be having a hard day.

It's a crazy world. Um, so you're going to be on tour for a bit then? You won't get to go back home for a while, or do you have a set date where you're going to go back home? Will you be home for Easter? Will you be home for—

yeah, I'm going to go home for Easter.

And then, um, will you go back to the church that you grew up in? No, no.

Um, Just— I kind of— well, we moved to a different place. My parents just sold that house, actually. They closed on it like a week or two ago. Oh, nice. Yeah. But yeah, I just bought a house back there on the lake and don't want to say where because people already come up on their boats and stuff playing my music.

It's kind of funny. People are perverts. People are seafaring perverts.

It's a small town, you know what I mean? They're like, yeah, they're cool. There's like the closest is like a Piggly Wiggly and a DG there.

You know. Oh yeah, I mean, people used to pull up by our apartments and steal all the, uh, ditch onions that were out there. I never—

what, you haven't? I have never.

Oh, they got ditch onions out there. Um, and congratulations on choosing Texas as a number one. It's a number one for—

this is so many, I don't even— it's too many slices, too many things.

It's actually crazy. It's a number one for everything. I think it just came out On the moon. It's the first number one on the moon, I think.

Yeah. I don't really know. That would be nuts. No. Yeah. I don't know. It's just so weird to believe that that's a song that's my song. Yeah. What?

I know it's hard to feel attached to things that you do sometimes. Yeah. I think. Yep. I think that that makes good sense. Maybe that's one of the things that makes you you, but whatever the things are that make you you, they're enjoyable to witness. So thank you for spending time with us. Thank you for your music. There's so many people I know that love it and then it brings joy to their life. And I'm glad I got to meet Mustache Stu. And yeah, when I need some photos and my conditioner sets, I'm going to call you and dang, get something swell going on. Something swell. Yeah, something swell. Ella Langley, thank you.

Thank you for having me on here. Yes, ma'am.