Raise a glass (or a bottle) to this old-soul country classic

Chart-topping Ella Langley has returned with ‘Dandelion’, a rich and accomplished second album, writes Helen Brown

- Helen Brown

In February, Ella Langley became the first woman ever to simultaneously top the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts with her tangy, twangy country rock single “Choosin’ Texas”. It’s the mainstream success that the 26year-old Alabamian farm girl’s been chasing all her life. “Did anything and everything to get where I’m at, and damn if it don’t feel good!” she sings on her second album, Dandelion.

But later in the same song, “Somethin’ Simple”, she concedes that while “living the dream” she still cherishes the basics: “A house on the hill, horse in the yard, a dog at my feet, pickin’ my guitar, supper on the stove, hard-workin’ man taking off his dirty work clothes...” So - although Langley first found fame singing covers on TikTok - there’s no reinventing the wagon wheel on this rich and accomplished record.