Ella Langley made her Stagecoach debut on Friday evening, appearing at golden hour in front of thousands gathered to see the breakthrough star’s set. While many in the crowd expected Morgan Wallen to join her as a special guest onstage to sing their recently released track, “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” Langley surprised everyone when she brought out comedian Theo Von instead.
After performing “Bottom of Your Boots” and “Broken” off her new album Dandelion, and fan favorite “20-20” from the deluxe reissue Still Hungover, Langley decided it was “story time.” The singer began the intro of “You Look Like You Love Me,” recounting a lonely night out on the road when she met a cowboy. Soon, Von, wearing a denim shirt, jeans and straw cowboy hat, walked on stage to step in for Riley Green’s verse. Pointing to Langley he declared, “And that’s when I realized that she was every cowboy’s dream come true.”
The duo launched into the chorus, with Theo holding his own and clearly having the time of his life on stage as he jumped in the air and at one point dropped his hat. Fans cheered as the pair circled each other, and in a standout moment, the massive crowd joined them to sing, “You look like you love me/You look like you want me to want you to come on home.”
As Von walked off stage, Langley playfully commented, “Bet you didn’t expect that… Keep ’em guessin’!” Von’s guest appearance at the fest arrives after Langley recently stopped by his popular podcast and the two discussed her new record, journey in the music industry, and the stranger parts of fame.
The singer-songwriter ended her set with her chart-topping single “Choosin Texas” and “Weren’t for the Wind.”
Langley’s road to Stagecoach has been a long time coming. The singer-songwriter moved to Nashville in 2019 and broke through five years later with her massive hit “You Look Like You Love Me,” which won Song of the Year at the 2025 CMA Awards. Earlier this year, the she made history when “Choosin’ Texas” reached Number One on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay charts at the same time. Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, and Shaboozey are the only other artists to ever achieve the feat; Langley is the first woman. To date, “Choosin’ Texas” has spent seven nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.
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Langley is up for seven awards at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards next month, scoring Single of the Year and Song of the Year nominations for “Choosin’ Texas.” (Women dominated at the 61st AMAs, with Megan Moroney, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and Langley each scoring more nominations than any male artist.) In the Song category, “Choosin’ Texas” will face off with Lambert and Chris Stapleton’s “A Song to Sing,” Moroney’s “Am I Okay?”, Zach Top’s “I Never Lie,” and Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo.”
In a Rolling Stone interview published just before her debut at the desert fest, Langley discussed her newly released album Dandelion and her upcoming tour in support of the LP kicking off in May. “Putting on the live show has been the number-one dream for me,” she said.