Jonathan Bernstein
View all posts by Jonathan Bernstein April 14, 2026
MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee are apparently fans of Ella Langley’s hit “Choosin’ Texas.” Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music Association Katie Crutchfield and MJ Lenderman had at least one deeply unexpected song choice at last night’s tour opener in Atlanta: A cover of Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas.”
With both singers playing acoustic, Crutchfield — who performs as Waxahatchee — took lead on the blockbuster country song, with Lenderman pitching in on harmony during the chorus. Though Langley’s song is currently the most popular song in the country and has topped the Hot 100 for much of the spring, it is a surprisingly traditionally structured and musically conservative song for a 2020s pop crossover.
Langley recently explained that the song, which was co-written with Miranda Lambert, started with Langley asking Lambert to confirm a fanciful story she’d heard about Lambert getting stopped by the police with animals in her car. “We were at this writers retreat, and I just asked,” Langley told Rolling Stone, “She had a dog in the back and a kangaroo in the passenger seat, and got pulled over. I said randomly, ‘I’m sure [the police officer] was like, She’s from Texas, I can tell.’”
Performed as a stripped down acoustic duet, it blended seamlessly into Crutchfield and Lenderman’s encore of alt-country covers (Lucinda Williams’ “Abandoned,” the Jayhawks’ “All the Right Reasons,” and Kathleen Edwards’ “Six O:Clock News”).
