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\n\tSince Ella Langley<\/a> released \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d last year, she\u2019s been breaking records left and right. She surpassed Taylor Swift for the longest-running country Number One, became the first female artist to top the Billboard<\/em> Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay simultaneously, and took home seven ACM awards. And as she resumes her Dandelion headlining tour<\/a> this weekend, she\u2019s proving that she\u2019s much more interested in being a first, not a last, by taking a string of fellow female artists out on the road.<\/p>\n \n\tLangley has recruited women to open for every date, choosing Gabriella Rose, Kaitlin Butts<\/a>, Avery Anna, Laci Kaye Booth, and Madeline Edwards<\/a> for the tour, which kicked off in May and concludes this August in, appropriately, Texas. But what\u2019s even more notable is that while country music<\/a> customarily prioritizes lower-risk openers for mainstream tours (read: successful on country radio), Langley seems intent to platform female artists regardless of whether they\u2019ve made headway on the airwaves. Which, as we know, is not exactly an equal playing field<\/a>. (Male country artists Dylan Marlowe and Kameron Marlowe are also on select dates.)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cElla is such a role model for what skyrocketing with grace looks like,\u201d Butts tells Rolling Stone<\/em>, who credits Langley with changing her life when she posted a TikTok video using Butts\u2019 \u201cYou Ain\u2019t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me)\u201d trend<\/a>. \u201cShe\u2019s put me up for an acting role in her iconic music video for \u2018Choosin\u2019 Texas\u2019 and now she\u2019s taking me on tour with her. That\u2019s what I love about her, a win for her means a win for all of us women in country music because she\u2019s one of the ones that\u2019s turning around to help the next in line.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEverything in Langley\u2019s world seems to be about paying tribute to those who opened doors for her, and how she can do the same in return. Dandelion<\/a><\/em> was co-produced by Miranda Lambert, who also co-wrote \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas.\u201d It was Lambert (and Carrie Underwood<\/a>) who first started to disrupt the mold of \u201cbalancing\u201d a woman headliner with male acts: her 2019 Roadside Bars & Pink Guitar<\/a> tours took out Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde, Elle King, Tenille Townes, and\u00a0Caylee Hammack. Morris went on to do the same, recruiting Cassadee Pope, RaeLynn, Kassi Ashton, Hailey Whitters, and Tenille Townes for her GIRL World Tour.<\/a> When country radio fails to budge \u2014 which, despite Langley\u2019s success, still plays women around once an hour at best \u2014 such tour slots can make all the difference in helping to level the playing field.<\/p>\n