Album Review – Ella Langley’s “Dandelion”

Classic Country (#510.1), Urban Cowboy (#510.15), and Country Pop (#530.2) on the Country DDS.

Dreamy, vibey, vintage, yet wildly resonant and relevant to as wide of an audience as possible, Ella Langley is rewriting the rules of what’s attainable for classic country music in real time, and will have us contemplating in the coming weeks if the biggest artist in all of country music isn’t Morgan Wallen, but a woman.

This is not just the tale of one song—Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” which spends its fifth week at #1 in all of music as this album is released. Her debut single with Riley Green “You Look Like You Love Me” also had strong classic country vibes and has now gone 3X Platinum. We attributed that success in part to Green’s status as a country hunk. Looking back now, it might have been Langley in the lead of sowing appeal in the song.

Dandelion is definitely not a work of contemporary pop country, even if some will characterize it as such if only from its rabid popularity. It’s the time and setting shift that Dandelion is able to perfect, shepherding the audience away from the current moment like all great classic country music does where nostalgia hangs thick in the air, and the moments seem to confer more meaning and emotion than anything the present tense can summon.

But Dandelion is also not a super twangy experience where instrumental breaks are emphasized, nor is it especially singer/songwriter-driven. Moving on from her debut album Hungover that had its moments, but definitely had its commercial-oriented approach in the writing and production, Ella Langley found a like-minded soul who understood what she was going for in music in Miranda Lambert who co-produced this album with Langley.

What these two came up with is a record where mood and setting is paramount in an attempt to immerse you in a more complete experience that most popular country music finds elusive. If there is a comparable, think of the early songs and records of Midland, or maybe Silverada’s Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold in how they are able to capture the depressive moment when a bar closes down and you’re still alone, yet you’re experiencing these moments in memory mode as opposed to in real time.

This doesn’t mean there’s aren’t more pop-oriented, contemporary-feeling points during Dandelion. There definitely are. But even those come with more of a throwback air, still hanging in an era stuck in the late ’70s, early ’80s Gilley’s period when the times felt more simple, smoke filled barrooms, and the music meant something more.

Still, there’s nothing really sharp or clear that defines this music. Similar to the success of “Choosin’ Texas,” you can’t really point to a specific lyrical hook, or a melody rise, or a guitar riff that set the song off. It’s almost that lack of contrast, and the way the musical elements all blend together that allow the songs to seep past your preconceived biases. Like a smoke or fog bank, this music is able to pass through or float beyond all barriers.

Will the reception for Dandelion parallel the success of “Choosin’ Texas”? Does Ella Langley have the stuff to become not just a superstar in country, but perhaps maintain this classic-oriented country music at the very top of all popular culture? We will have to wait and see. But Dandelion definitely took the lessons of “Choosin’ Texas,” and applied them to the work as a whole.

Those lessons are that we’re living in a moment that’s more country than in the last many years, that mood might be more important even than melody, and that being authentic to yourself is more paramount than what people might tell you the public wants.

“Choosin’ Texas” has already become one of the most important songs in country music in the last quarter century, if not in history. Dandelion might end up on a parallel course. But irrespective of it’s ceiling or its fate, it’s an album that verifies the hypothesis actual country fans have been screaming about for years: Just give more classic-oriented country music a chance, and it will prove it’s eternal appeal.

8.2/10

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Song Reviews:

1. Froggy Went A Courtin’ – Intro

When people first saw the track list for Dandelion, they were impressed to see a version of the old country music classic “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” cut by the Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells in 1952. Well, “Froggy Went A Courtin’ dates back to 1548, and is about as traditional as you can get. Ahead of the album, Langley shared a video of her grandfather playing the song on the guitar, and a young Ella dancing euphorically to it like little kids do to songs they love.

Ella Langley grew up singing in Southern Baptist churches and at home with her family. Including this song to bookend Dandelion speaks to the intentionality she approach this project with, and how she wanted it to be a true representation of herself as a young girl from Hope Hull, Alabama who aspired to stardom, but didn’t lose herself or the spark of the dream she felt prancing around to her grandfather’s guitar when she got there.

2. Dandelion

The title track happens to be the oldest track on the album, and one Ella pondered putting on her debut album Hungover, but held it back sensing it might be better fit for her next project. Dandelion tea is actually a good hangover remedy, so it made sense to have it come after Hungover.

There are numerous reason to including “Dandelion” as the title track. The dandelion is a common flower, while also being considered an invasive weed. That sort of “beautiful, but rugged, rural, and resilient” idea sets the theme Langley intentionally wanted to present with the album.

The song itself with it’s outside sounds and steel guitar help set the mood for an album that “mood” is so important to as opposed to bold styling or spectacular performances. It’s the commonality, relatable, approachable nature of Ella that makes her alluring as opposed to being a bloom so extravagant, it feels out of reach.

3. Choosin’ Texas

Plenty has been said and written about this song already. It might be one of the most important country songs in the last 25 years with the way it’s pierced through to the very top of popularity in all of American music, and as a fairly traditional-leaning country track about heartbreak and two-step dancing. But in the context of the album, “Choosin’ Texas” is a good example of the moody, sepia-toned, smoky and nostalgic atmosphere Ella Langley looks to evoke. You don’t just hear this song, you sense it, feel it, and smell it. You get a sense of the dim, almost opaque nature of the air and light as characters shuffle across a wooden, dance hall floor.

It’s the mood that draws you in. But the reason “Choosin’ Texas” continues to resonate is because so many can relate to the feeling of inferiority in social situations. You don’t have to be a country fan to feel the emotion of the song in its full capacity.

4. We Know Us

“We Know Us” is really emblematic of the music on Dandelion in general. It’s an Urban Cowboy-era tune with an almost Doo-Wop intro that can combine prominent steel guitar with hand drums and still pull it off.

5. Low Lights

This song is a great example of how to evoke setting and mood in a song to deliver the audience to an intended destination. The waltz time, the steel guitar leading into the string arrangement, and the story of letting go of inhibitions puts you right in the moment that the song was originally inspired by. “Low Lights” might be a song some will pass by since it’s beauty is not stark or obvious, but it’s one of the better tracks from the album.

6. Be Her

“Be Her” is one of the more pop-oriented tracks on the record, and one of the early releases that had some traditionalists feeling a little trepidation about Dandelion. But even though this song co-written by Hardy might have a bit more of a saccharine heart to it, it doesn’t dishonor the vintage vibe the album looks to capture. If anything, it leans into it, enhances it, and makes that vibe even more immersive.

Nonetheless, the “I just wanna be her, it hurts so bad” hook is not as clever as it hopes to be, even if it’s infectious enough to make it the second radio single from the album. And anyone who’s had their nose in mainstream country albums over the years knows to be leery of judging albums by their radio singles. “Be Her” is not the best song on the album, but it’s also harmless. And similar to “Choosin’ Texas,” the song speaks to the anxiety about a sense of inferiority that many women can relate to, and that marks one of the underlying themes of Dandelion.

7. You & Me Time

This is more of an R&B-influenced and pop track on the album, even if it comes still with a vintage sway to it. It might even be slated as an upcoming radio single. Similar to “Be Her,” the intended lyrical hook might not be as infectious as intended, but the song does benefit from the multi layered vocal parts towards the end where you can hear Miranda Lambert as part of the chorus of voices, along with songwriter Aaron Raitiere who makes numerous appearances in the Dandelion credits.

8. Loving Life Again

This is one of the numerous songs on the album that finds Ella Langley yearning for simplicity, and seeming to understand the importance of remaining grounded to the realities of life and her rural upbringing even as her career skyrockets. Some of the awkwardness and apprehension we saw from Langley at the 2025 ACM Awards seems to have grown out of this imposter syndrome she suffers from. The song also benefits from a super enjoyable step-down chorus. The steel guitar could be more present in the mix, but this is one of the strongest tracks from the record, and could be an upcoming radio single.

9. Bottom Of Your Boots

The dreamy nature of the production with the watery guitar signals and rhythmic stop-downs make what could conventionally be a pop country radio track into a retro experience that could still resonate with radio listeners. Don’t be surprised if this is released as a single. Maybe not the album’s best track, but one that strikes that “Choosin’ Texas” vibe well.

10. Speaking Terms

This album needed a more intimate, singer/songwriter moment in the mix, and finds an excellent one in “Speaking Terms,” even if it’s the only song on the album aside from the cover tunes that Ella didn’t write. Clearly it felt very personal to Langley, and that’s how it’s sung. The song shirks the cliché religious connotations that are starting to dominate much of popular country to share some vulnerability and even doubt, despite the exploration of faith. It’s a great song that gives Dandelion some heft among all they vibes.

11. I Gotta Quit

Similar to how the preceding track “Speaking Terms” filled a potential hole in the track list, Dandelion also needed a more upbeat, somewhat unserious song to unwind to and cleanse the palette, and gets it via “I Gotta Quit.” It might have been even better if this song allowed the instrumentalists in the studio to stretch their legs a little bit as well. But “I Gotta Quit” is fun nonetheless.

12. It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels

It’s always been an interesting fact of country history that the song that crowned Kitty Wells the “Queen of Country Music” was an answer song to another early country hit, Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life.” Though Ella Langley isn’t going to best the original here—or even some of the other landmark versions of the song recorded over the years—the inclusion of this songs speaks to the deep commitment Ella Langley has to the country genre, and how she wanted to express it through this record.

Langley’s recording is a classic, honky tonk, hard country version that holds back nothing, with the vocal signal just slightly distressed to give it that vintage feel.

13. Last Call For Us

It’s not just traditional-leaning songs that we can dote on Ella Langley for. With “Last Call For Us” and her Kitty Wells cover, Ella anchors Dandelion with some tracks that are traditional country, period. Though this album really isn’t one where you harp on the instrumentation, on this particular track, steel guitarist Spencer Cullum really does his worst, and makes a song that otherwise might feel a little pedestrian into one of the standout tracks of the album. The writing is really strong in a classic country sense as well.

14. Broken

Another song emblematic of the Dandelion vibe that works as an addendum to the heartbroken narrative first introduced via “Choosin’ Texas,” and whose setting is once again a dance floor in a honky tonk. Good song.

15. Somethin’ Simple

This song dovetails with the Dandelion title track, and speaks to Ella Langley’s desire to not be the larger than life character, or yearn for dreams that don’t fit within her known universe. Instead, it’s important to her to remain grounded in who she is, and to appreciate the simple things. At times during this album, you wonder how much you’re getting of Ella, and how much you’re getting from her two to four co-writers on each track. “Somethin’ Simple” feels distinctly personal to Langley.

Though this is one of the stronger songs on the album, you do second guess if a more “simple” production approach or arrangement wouldn’t have worked better for this track. A more stripped-back, acoustic, and country version of this song might have driven home the theme even better.

16. Butterfly Season (w/ Miranda Lambert)

Though it’s proceeded with two more songs, “Butterfly Season” really is the conclusion of the heartbreak presented throughout Dandelion. The song looks forward to a brighter future, symbolized by spring, and a caterpillar sprouting wings, while also once again emphasizing the yearning for simplicity that the album expresses.

17. Most Good Things Do – Acoustic

Ella Langley fans will recall that on her debut album Hungover, she also had a couple of acoustic solo songs, and that they were also some of the album’s best-written tracks. You’re glad to see her carry that tradition to Dandelion, because it really helps establish her as not just a pretty face or a pop country singer, but someone who takes her craft seriously, and doesn’t need anything but herself and a guitar to entertain.

18. Froggy Went A Courtin’ – Outro

(see above)

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