Matthew McConaughey is a Texas boy at heart.
During Wednesday’s episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the 56-year-old actor embraced his Southern roots by performing Ella Langley’s hit song, “Choosin’ Texas,” alongside Fallon and indie folk band The Last Bison. The cover quickly drew attention on social media and even earned a response from Langley herself.
“I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this,” Langley wrote on her Instagram Stories alongside a video of McConaughey and Fallon jamming to her hit song.
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Fans shared a similar sentiment.
“POV me driving singing this with my whole chest,” one fan commented.
“The cover we didn’t know we needed,” another wrote.
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The performance unfolded during a new installment of “Tonight Show Audience Suggestion Box,” when Fallon read a submission that combined Langley’s hit with McConaughey’s latest movie, “The Rivals of Amziah King.”
“I love that song ‘Choosin’ Texas’ by Ella Langley,” Fallon read. “And I’m really excited to see Matthew McConaughey’s new movie ‘The Rivals of Amziah King,’ where he performs in a bluegrass band. If there was only a way to combine those things, that would be a dream come true.”
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“This is ‘The Tonight Show,’ where dreams become reality,” Fallon quipped.
Moments later, the curtain opened to reveal McConaughey with a mandolin in hand alongside The Last Bison, while Fallon joined in on the washboard. The group then launched into a bluegrass rendition of Langley’s chart-topping hit.
McConaughey’s cover comes as “Choosin’ Texas” continues to make history for Langley.
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The country anthem recently scored its 17th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest-running non-holiday No. 1 by a solo female artist in the chart’s history.
The milestone pushed Langley past Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together,” which each spent 14 weeks at the top of the chart.
For McConaughey, the song choice was particularly fitting.
The Oscar-winning actor has long been outspoken about his love for the Lone Star State, where he was born and later returned to raise his family.
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McConaughey left Malibu, California, for Austin, Texas, with his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, and their three children in 2014. He previously explained that returning to Texas was always part of his plan once he started a family.
“This has always been home, there are multiple reasons for that,” McConaughey previously said during an appearance on “Today.”
The “Dallas Buyers Club” star said his mother and two older brothers were also in Texas and explained that he wanted his children to experience some of the same values he grew up around.
“I wanted them to have what I grew up around,” he said, adding that there is a certain amount of “common sense” that comes with life in Texas.
