Alabama Roots, Texas Heart: How Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” Became a Country Statement
When Ella Langley stepped into the writing room with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor, she thought she was just chasing another song. What emerged was something sharper: a story of leaving and returning, of a man picking a place and a woman, of identity and consequence. The track, titled Choosin’ Texas, opens with the line “She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way / He’s two-steppin’ ’round the room…” — and from those words you feel the tension, the travel, the tie-that-pulls.
Ella’s Alabama upbringing gives her a grounded authenticity. But in this song, she borrows a different energy: the Lone Star State’s rowdy streak and its unapologetic swagger. Miranda Lambert herself said, “Ella may have grown up in Alabama, but she has a rowdy, fiery side that us Texas women recognize and respect.”
The song wasn’t built in a vacuum. During a writing retreat, Lambert spun a tale of a wild Texas night; at one point Ella blurted out, “Well, she’s from Texas, I can tell.” That phrase became the spark. In other words: the girl from Texas wasn’t just in the lyrics — she was in the room.
The live performance of the song in Houston elevated the story. Standing on stage at 713 Music Hall, Ella didn’t hold back. A writer described it as: “She did not just survive the moment, she doubled down.”The studio version was good, but the live version had teeth. You could hear the crowd’s reaction — every syllable, every beat. It turned into a kind of collective moment: a crowd in Texas cheering on a story of a man who came back, and a woman who stood her ground.
Why does it hit? Because it’s more than heartbreak. It’s about recognition and choice. The man leaves Alabama, goes to Texas. The woman from Texas becomes the decision. The narrator isn’t just losing; she’s witnessing. She’s observing the choice, owning the strength in what she’s watching. It’s the flip side of many heartbreak songs.
So in that sense, “choosing Texas” becomes a metaphor — for identity, for the part of you that refuses to be second choice. For the place and the person who don’t have to pick up the pieces, the place that picks itself. Ella Langley turned a writing room memory into a modest anthem of empowerment wrapped in country grit.
And if you listen closely: you’ll hear the boots hitting the floor, the audience leaning in, the narrator’s voice saying she knows what’s going on. Because in choosing Texas, the story isn’t over. It’s just found its home.