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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged

Blame it all on my roots.

I showed up in Godbeat boots.

I love listening to country music. I love covering religion news. And hey, if the two occasionally overlap, that’s even better, right?

Which leads us to the subject of this week’s column: Ella Langley, a 26-year-old singer-songwriter from the small town of Hope Hull, Alabama.

The Wall Street Journal profiled Langley this week, touting her rise to “country superstardom.”

Langley’s single “Choosin’ Texas” has topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks and the magazine’s Hot Country Songs chart for 20 weeks. Her song “Be Her” is also in the Hot 100 and ranks No. 2 on the country list.

Billboard points out:

Notably, Langley becomes the second woman to chart two titles in the top 10 of the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs simultaneously — Taylor Swift first did so with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “Red” for a week in October 2012.

What does any of this have to do with religion? Trust me, I’m getting there.

But first, a bit more relevant context: Langley’s new album, “Dandelion,” came out last Friday and immediately jumped to No. 1 on iTunes.

My favorite song on the album is “Speaking Terms,” an acoustic ballad about faith and doubt.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.

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