Lainey Wilson Brings Ella Langley On Stage To Fill In For Miranda Lambert

Ella Langley joined Lainey Wilson on stage as a surprise guest during the Whirlwind megastar’s latest tour stop on Thursday night (October 2).

“Y’all welcomed to the stage, my girl, Ella Langley!” Wilson announced, prompting a powerful reaction from the arena audience. Langley joined Wilson to fill in for Miranda Lambert on “Good Horses,” a duet appeared on Wilson’s Whirlwind record last year (and its recent deluxe edition).

“She’s kind of like my little sister, in a way, and I see a lot of myself in her,“ Wilson said of Langley in a previous interview with iHeartCountry. “But she’s got this spunk to her that I’m like, ‘there ain’t no stoppin’ this chick,’ which I love to see. She is a go-getter, and she is one of the most talented people. She’s just got it going on. …I’m proud of her.

“I’m buddies with Megan Moroney (and) Ella Langley, and to watch their stars just soaring, it’s really, really cool to see,” Wilson said on a separate occasion earlier this year. “And at times, I wanna just pour out as much as I possibly can to them and be like, ‘don’t you miss this moment,’ you know? ‘Be present. Do whatever you gotta do to soak it in and celebrate these times, and then get ready for the next one because it’s going to be right around the corner quicker than you can even realize it just happened.’ So, my advice to them is really just to keep your head down and work hard, but also…acknowledge that their hard work has gotten them to this point…and not letting the voices of the world get them down.”

Lambert has also hailed Langley “my friend, first and foremost, a fellow dog rescue advocate, you are a cowriter, you are my soul sister in Country Music and a partner in crime.” The pair took the stage together at the Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this year, on the same evening Lambert delivered the world premiere performance of “Trailblazer,” a collaboration with Wilson and Reba McEntire.

“I’m a huge fan of Lainey Wilson,” Lambert wrote in a tribute to Wilson as she was named on the TIME100Next list earlier this week. “I heard just a few songs and instantly loved what she is doing. She is such a light. She’s funny and she’s fun, and she has a spirit about her that brings joy to any room she walks in. Knowing her off the stage and on, I feel like I’m looking at the same person all the time. That’s pretty rare. What she does doesn’t define her. Who she is defines her, and that’s real authenticity. She lives and breathes songs, and you can see that passion in her eyes; it’s all about the music for her, and she lets the music lead. She’s a legend already—having taken home her first Grammy last year for Bell Bottom Country—and I’m thankful she’s a country artist. I’m really proud of how she represents the lifestyle we both love and the music we both love. She’s out of the gate going 100 miles an hour.”