ELLA LANGLEY - weren't for the wind - Columbia Records Nashville

As she continues landing heavy impact at country radio with viral breakout “you look like you love me,” the intoxicating combination of her and Riley Green, Ella Langley is quickly rising to elite status on the back of sold-out headlining shows and the buzzworthy announcement of her deluxe album still hungover (due out Nov 1, 2024).

Featuring 4-additional songs on top of the original 14 that anchored hungover, Langley has further enhanced the heightened anticipation of things still to come with this week’s release of the first new track, “weren’t for the wind.”

A dusty, road worn melody drives the leaving aura within the moodiness of the lyrics, trailing her voice alongside vagabond personality traits as she unapologetically tallies that while she wouldn’t necessarily call herself a heartbreaker, she’s admittedly broken a few hearts and more than one promise.

With her eyes seemingly locked on what comes next, the painted white lines pass her by as she races into the maybe, what if scenarios of the chorus, lamenting on the could have been questions if the timing were to ever be right.

“Maybe that plane wouldn’t ever take off

Maybe that dust wouldn’t fly off the drive

Maybe that tumbleweed and me wouldn’t leave every other sunrise

Maybe I’d settle down dig in some roots

Find me a farmhouse find me you

Maybe I wouldn’t be already gone again

If it weren’t for the wind”

Living in an unbalanced, though often exhilarating place of consistently wondering what more is still out there for her, the second half of the song sees her philosophically deep diving into who she is and why she makes the choices she does, leaving everything behind in the rearview mirror…always!

From song to song – “That’s Why We Fight,” “paint the town blue,” “nicotine,” etc. – Ella Langley has proven her incredible songwriting prowess in crafting very vivid scenes and common emotions into pure poetry, often digging deeper than the surface to find purposeful meaning.

In many ways, “weren’t for the wind” is an autobiographical journey of a wildflower blooming in the breeze before floating to the next exciting thing. However, underneath its surface level this lyric and performance examines a potential fear, a haunting demon, accelerating her escape route from commitment whenever the situation begins to develop into someone real.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)