Miranda Lambert says that when she met Ella Langley for the first time, it was “exactly like looking in the mirror” at her younger self.
So much so that she walked away from the encounter feeling like she owed an apology to her manager Marion Kraft, who started working with Lambert when the singer was 19.
Read More: 13 Surprising Ella Langley Facts
“I called my manager and said, ‘Oh, sorry for everything.’ Because now I know what it’s like because it’s exactly like looking in the mirror,” Lambert recounted during a May 15 interview with Cody Alan on SiriusXM’s The Highway.
“She’s just so feisty and so strong and knows exactly who she is and what she wants, and it really reminded [me of myself],” she continues.
How Did Miranda Lambert Meet Ella Langley?
In her SiriusXM interview, Lambert says that she and Langley met one year at the BMI Awards in Nashville. Songwriter Natalie Hemby, a frequent collaborator of Lambert’s, made the introduction.
“Natalie was like, ‘Y’all need to be friends.’…Immediately, like, I could tell there was a kindred spirit there,” Lambert recounts.
Read More: Miranda Lambert’s Best Songs Bring Heart, Hurt and Swagger
“I love her for all the things that probably annoyed my manager about me,” she goes on to say. “…Very strong-willed, but also very set in your ways, but also, like, it’s right. Because she believes in it so much, and it’s so inspiring to see an artist that just walks with that much confidence.”
What Songs Have Ella Langley and Miranda Lambert Released Together?
Lambert became a fan of Langley’s music shortly after they met, when she got her hands on Langley’s then-unreleased album Hungover. To hear Lambert tell it, that was the real start of their friendship.
“[I] called her. I was like, ‘This is great.’ And told her my favorite songs,” she remembers. “And then from there, we just kind of struck up our friendship.”
Langley and Lambert have only released one true duet together: “Butterfly Season,” which is on Langley’s Dandelion album.
But that’s not the only song they’ve worked on together. Langley and Lambert teamed up at the 2025 ACM Awards to sing Lambert’s breakout hit from 2005, “Kerosene.”
They also co-wrote Langley’s massively successful single “Choosin’ Texas,” and Lambert appeared in the music video for the song.
The 15 Best Ella Langley Songs
Ella Langley showed up in country music’s mainstream as a dark horse with an unlikely hit: “You Look Like You Love Me,” a Riley Green duet that was catchy as all get-out but featured some unusual (and old-school) stylistic choices like talk-singing.
But it was a smash. And that turned out to be just the beginning of what Langley had to offer. She’s continued to dominate with hits like “Weren’t For the Wind” and the crossover mega-hit “Choosin’ Texas,” becoming one of the most high profile acts in country music and a bonafide star even beyond the genre.
Keep reading for Taste of Country’s countdown of 15 Ella Langley songs that put her on the map, and then rewrote the rules of what traditional country sounds like — and how successful it can be even beyond the genre.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
