Everybody’s gotta start somewhere. Before Ella Langley was scoring #1 hits with songs like “You Look Like You Love Me” and most recently “Weren’t for the Wind,” she was grinding in college and just trying to get some sort of start in the music industry. She would often cover country classics, and a few of them did go viral, but Ella also put out some original stuff, including some music videos, that have resurfaced on TikTok as of late, going viral because of just how young she was and in the intrigue in how cool it is that she’s come so far in a relatively short amount of time. During a recent interview, Ella seemed a little embarrassed by them, though she says he’s “not upset” to see them all over the internet now: “Yep. I’m not upset by them. It’s just like, whoever went back in that far and decided to put me on blast like that, that only helps me, so thank you.” The host, Elaina, called it “inspiring” because it is a great example of what hard work can do, and Ella laughed as she talked about her looks and how she’s tried every makeup trend, as you can tell in the videos. She’s adorable and much younger, obviously, but I hardly recognized her at first… even her voice is different. Ella explained that at first, she was worried people would judge her as a performer now based on those earlier videos, but she quickly realized that it’s actually important for people to see because she “worked her tail off” to get where she is now, and that can apply to anyone with a dream, not just in the music industry: “I’m sure you’re talking about these old music videos, where I have my eyebrows pretty [over] much my whole forehead. You know, I’ve really liked make up the whole time, I’ve tried every trend. I really have… I didn’t have any real friends at that time. That’s not true, they just love me too much hurt my feelings, I guess. I mean, no, I didn’t know how to play guitar until I started to, I didn’t know how to sing until I started to, you know. I think it is inspiring. At first when I saw those videos… I’ve been waiting on those videos to surface since forever. And I was just like, it kinda makes me sweat a little bit. I was like, is everybody gonna think I’m not good now because I sounded like that back then? And that’s like the random thought that goes in your head. Then you’re like, wait a minute. Hell no. They’re gonna see that I worked my tail off to get where I’m at and that is inspiring. It’s inspiring for whatever you do, not just music. If you want to be a trainer at the gym, if you want to host a radio talkshow, whatever the hell you wanna do, it’s like, you have to start somewhere.” I couldn’t have said it better myself: @elainadsmith That digital footprint Having the best time with @Ella Langley this week on @Backstage Country #ellalangley #countrymusic ♬ original sound – Elaina Since the video below many years ago, Ella had a mega viral video for her mega viral song with Riley Green, the aforementioned, award-winning son “You Look Like You Love Me,” so it’s safe to say that hard work paid off and then some. Here’s one of the videos that’s been getting clipped called “Here”: She was just preparing for this, even though she didn’t know it yet… “you look like you love me” The post Ella Langley Says Seeing Old Videos Of Herself Doesn’t Embarrass Her Because It Shows How Hard She’s Worked: “You Have To Start Somewhere” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A true light in the world. Dolly Parton sat down with Khloé Kardashian on her Khloé in Wonder Land podcast this week, where they had a wide-ranging conversation about her music career, all of her current projects, and of course, her very strong faith. I think most of us know the story of how Dolly coming from practically nothing deep in the Smoky mountains of East Tennessee to become one of the most iconic and beloved musicians of all-time. She was raised by two very hard working parents with her 11 siblings, and she was raised in church and has always spoke very openly about it. Even with all of the incredible fame and success she has enjoyed over the years, Dolly has remained such a down-to-earth, salt of the earth woman. Her Grandpa, Reverend Jake Owens, was a Pentecostal preacher, and he often worried about her and her faith when she was younger, mostly because of her bleached hair and tight clothes, thinking that she wasn’t walking with the Lord because of those things. Well, he was wrong, and Dolly has always been very open about her faith and belief in God, and she credits her longevity and success to the many blessings she has received over the years. She grew up going to the Church of God her grandpa preached at, and she was eventually baptized when she was 12 years-old. Her family was always very musical, and her grandfather was an expert fiddle player, so she and her 11 siblings would travel around to local churches to sing. Dolly had to find God in her own way, though, and joked with Khloé that she was saved 15 times, and got baptized multiple times, because she was so scared: “Well, that is also in my musical, how I did that. But my grandpa was preacher, and we were Pentecostal. That’s that hell, fire and brimstone, and, Lord, if you don’t go get saved tonight, you might go out I’m prepared and the truck might hit you and you’re doomed forever. So I was so scared every time they had an article call, I’d go up, I must’ve got saved 15 times, but never did, you know, in the church. Got baptized over and over, but to me, I just wanted to be better safe than sorry kind of thing. But I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel like… it was fear, and I think scared religion is no religion. And you know, it’s like, I’m not religious as much as I’m just bonded to that thing that is God that is so much part of me.” Probably something many people, especially in the rural south, can relate to… and it’s so funny because of the truth behind it. Dolly went onto explain how she got saved in an old abandoned church near where she grew up, which had been long-empty and was used for much more nefarious purposes when she was young, but it didn’t matter: “There was an old abandoned church house down below us, where it had been a church years ago. It had still had an old abandoned piano, and it had broken down, and this is where people go to drink, have sex, stuff written on the walls. It still had Bible verses and everything, but I would go to that old church, and I felt  the presence. I felt a presence there. and so it was in that abandoned church that I just was praying to God the way that I was just saying, ‘Well, just show me, you know, help me, save me,’ because I wanna be ready. So it was then that I just had this peace fall all over me, and I just felt like that I had, for the first time in my life, had truly found God. And I felt like that I just had a knowing of what my life was supposed to be, and I thought, it was just a feeling that said, you go and don’t you stop until I say stop. So I never have, so that was kind of how that happened. It had to happen without fear and without influence, without anything else. So a lot of people are just ‘too smart to believe in God,’ you know what I mean. Well, you have to believe in something bigger than you, and what do you call it science, whether you call it nature, whether you call it this or that, it doesn’t matter. There’s a force there. There’s an energy, there’s greatness. and those of us that, you know, do believe like we do… however you find him, just do.” Dolly said there have been people tell her she shouldn’t talk about God and her faith the way she does so publicly, but she wants people to have the same kind of relationship with God that she does, and she prays all the time that his light will shine through her: “Even if I knew there was no God, I’d choose to believe it, because I wanna believe there’s something out there, and I do believe it, so it doesn’t matter. People say, ‘You shouldn’t talk about that.’ I said,’ Well, yes I should.’ I’m not telling you what to do. I’m just telling you what makes me work, what I believe. And if God can shine through me, and I ask him to all the time, if somebody can see something to me that might lead them to…. whatever is working for me might work for them. It doesn’t matter, I just hope that I can do some good in the world.” It’s safe to say those prayers have been answered, and I think it’s beyond impressive that she’s never backed down from it or shied away from talking about her faith… especially in a world that doesn’t celebrate that in show business, especially. She’s truly a gem, and a one-of-a-kind individual, and to say she has been a light in the world feels like an understatement. The one and only @DollyParton We talked about God, glam, growing up, and how she’s stayed true to herself through it all. Watch now on @X pic.twitter.com/dYMogWnKuJ — Khloé (@khloekardashian) July 9, 2025 The post Dolly Parton Says People Have Told Her To Stop Talking About Her Faith Publicly, But She Doesn’t Care: “God Can Shine Through Me… I Ask Him To All The Time” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

From the birthplace of the Bard to a seemingly ordinary stone on a London Street, Shakespeare’s influence on history and culture can be found in unexpected places.

Boyz N The Hood - Ron Taylor Stand-up Comedy