“All They Had Was Music”: Ella Langley Opens Up About How Her Grandparents Influenced Her

During an appearance on Tracy Lawrence's Roadhouse podcast, Ella Langley has opened up about how big an impact her grandparents had on her love for music at a young age.

The Alabama native fondly recalls, “My grandparents on my dad's side. All my family loves music, but my grandparents on my dad's side. My grandma had my dad when she was 45. So they were older when I was born, and I was the first girl in our family for the longest time. She had all sons, so when I was born, she's like, ‘Yes!’”

She goes on, “I lived at their house pretty much. I mean, they literally asked to adopt me. They're like, ‘You have the other siblings, we'll just take this one’...But they're really musically inclined. My grandpa could play any instrument by ear. He was just one of those. He pick up anything and just kind of figure out how to play it”.

Langley explains how her grandparents never really had much materially, but they could always rely on music, “I mean, when he was growing up, that's all they had was music, and he was one of five. And they just passed it down. The first one learned and taught the next one, and then taught the next one. And yeah, family reunions - all of us were just singing. I was the only grandkid singing in there”.

The ‘you look like you love me’ hitmaker jokes about how proud her grandpa and grandma were of her singing, “The mail lady would come over, and they we'd be in the back room, and my grandparents would be like, ‘You want to hear Ella sing?’”

Langley has paid homage to her grandparents through her music on numerous occasions. But one of the most touching ways in which she's tipped her cap to her grandmother, in particular, is on ‘Loving Life Again’, when she references the hide-and-seek games they'd play together, singing, “Is that grandma? I thinks he's callin’ me”.

After this lyric, you can hear Langley crying, “Yoo-hoo!” In interviews around the album's release, she revealed this was what she'd shout when her grandma was looking for her.

What's more, on ‘closest to heaven’, one of the stand-outs from Langley's 2024 hungover record, the ‘Choosin‘ Texas’ singer-songwriter recalls her grandpa's love for her grandma, with his final words in the song being his touching admission, “The closest to Heaven that I'll ever be / Is somewhere with you under a big old oak tree”.

Langley has made it clear that she wouldn't be where she is today without those early influences from her beloved grandparents, and indeed her wider family, too.

With Langley getting a tattoo in honour of her grandma this summer, the ‘Be Her’ chart-topper continues to pay homage to those who came before her and helped shape her outlook on life, music and beyond. Through the traditional spirit of so much of her catalogue, Langley is a beacon of light for those who yearn for a return to the sound of a bygone era that represents the kind of country music her grandparents would love, while still feeling fresh, innovative and distinctive.