Ella Langley Delivers Flawless Cover Of “Wasted Days & Wasted Nights”

She knows how to cover a country classic.

This past Sunday at the ACM Awards, Ella Langley cleaned up and swept all seven categories she was nominated in. The Alabama native was nominated seven times (tied for second-most on the night) as an artist, producer and songwriter, and she ended up winning in every category, in Artist-Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year: “Choosin’ Texas” (as an artist and songwriter), Single of the Year: “Choosin’ Texas” (as an artist and producer), Music Event of the Year: “Don’t Mind If I Do” with Riley Green and Female Artist of the Year.

Before Ella won seven ACM Awards in one night, the record for most ACM Awards in a single night was six. That record was held by three country icons in Garth Brooks (1991), Faith Hill (1999) and Chris Stapleton (2016).

She’s having one heck of a year, and of course, her hit single “Choosin’ Texas” is making history too. As it stands today, it’s the longest-running #1 hit by a female country artist on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 (nine weeks), the only country song by a woman to triple up and go #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country and Country Airplay chart simultaneously and just the seventh country song solely recorded by a woman to go #1 on the Hot 100 in the history of the chart.

All of this comes just about a month after she released her highly-anticipated album Dandelion, which featured an incredible cover of the country classic, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Ella has talked a lot about how old school country music has influenced her, and today, she shared an amazing cover of another country classic in Freddy Fender’s “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.”

Fender wrote the song as a blues ballad in 1959, and it showcased the fusion of the rockabilly and Tejano styles he loved and was working towards. He also recorded a Spanish version of the song, and while he didn’t release a solo version of it for a while after this, in 1971, the Texas-based band Sir Douglas Quintet recorded it and put out their version. In 1975 Fender had a lot of success with “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” and so he re-recorded “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and it became a major crossover hit on both the pop and country charts, topping the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In the early 90’s, Fender re-recorded as a member of the Texas Tornados it with a more modern twist, and it later appeared on the soundtrack to the 1993 movie version of The Beverly Hillbillies. Charley Crockett also included a cover on his 2016 album, In The Night, as did LeAnn Rimes on her 2011 covers album, Lady & Gentlemen.

Clearly, it has a very long history in country music, and Ella delivered a simple acoustic version that is absolutely stunning. She just doesn’t miss, and if she started including this as another cover in her set, I certainly wouldn’t be mad about it…

@ellalangleymusic1Wasted Days and Wasted Nights♬ original sound – Ella Langley

“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”

“It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”