Drunken cowboys, secret hookups, a scandalous slap-fight between Miranda Lambert and Luke Grimes on the set of Ella Langley’s new “Choosin’ Texas” video?
Nah.
“There was nothing TMZ about it; it was just Texas country,” says Australian country singer Shea Fisher Durfey, who’s also a rodeo cowgirl — and a whiskey-sipping gal in the cameo-packed video. “Everybody was so low-key and casual.”
Nothing low-key and casual about all those celeb cameos, though.
World champs incognito
Those two cowboys Shea’s sandwiched between in the video? None other than real-life world champion bull rider JB Mauney and world champion tie-down roper Tyson Durfey, who happens to be her real-life hubby.
“I was laughing because some of these cowboys had never been in music videos and didn’t realize the glasses of ‘whiskey’ on set definitely weren’t,” Shea says. “JB Mauney thinks it’s whiskey, and he takes a sip, and it’s sweet tea. He said, ‘Where’s the real whiskey? What’s this sh-t that we’re drinking?’”
The Shiner Bock beer bottles in the video were also filled with tea, then misted with water to look like sweat. “Even the cigarettes, they’re not real. You can smoke them and it looks real, but it’s all herbs. So JB said, ‘I gotta go get my Marlboros out of my truck.’”
Luke Grimes, team roper extraordinaire?
Luke Grimes appears in the video as a looks-like-trouble rodeoer who’s carrying a torch for his smokin’ hot old flame, played by Ava Phillippe (daughter of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe).
In real life, what rodeo event would Luke compete in? “I’m probably going to get in trouble,” Shea says with a laugh, “but if he was an athlete, he’d be a team roper. He’s quiet-spoken; he’s the sweetest, nicest guy. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying he’s not manly, but he’s not a tough guy,” she explains. “He’s the polar opposite of how he seems in the video. Let’s just say he has great acting skills.”
Casting call for cowboys
These days, Shea lives on a ranch near Weatherford, Texas, with her rodeo champ husband and their three kids. Most of the video was filmed in nearby Fort Worth at the Stagecoach Ballroom, but the road scenes and flashbacks were set at Shea and Tyson’s ranch.
They used her neighbor’s horse trailer in the video and borrowed the pickup from the owner of Weatherford Farmers Market. Those clothes on the flashback kids came from Shea, who had to redress the two child actors in her own children’s clothes to make them look legit. “They were the most city kids I’d ever seen,” she says laughing.
When it came to casting real-deal cowboys, the couple knew who to connect Ella with, including Dale Brisby, Shad Mayfield, and Leighton Berry. “Ella and Luke were thrilled to hang out with the rodeo athletes,” Shea says.
Watch your back, sugar pie …
Miranda Lambert might be the video’s biggest cameo, but Kaitlin Butts has the best role: the old flame’s bitchy best friend who accosts Ella in the ladies’ room.
“You got some kinda nerve bringing him around here again,” says Butts, with a watch-yourself smile that’s as sweet as poison. “Just so you know, Texas has a way of keeping what’s hers.”
Lone Star State, can we get a witness?
Shea Fisher Durfey’s musical talent
Shea knows a thing or two about getting hip to how things happen in the Lone Star State, having moved across the planet from Australia to Nashville before landing in Texas. “I had to learn, okay, this is how it’s done in Texas. I feel like whether you’re a country girl or not, we can all relate to having felt like that before.”
But rodeo is rodeo, wherever you go. And Shea’s got some observations.
Like: There’s a big difference between bull riders and tie-down ropers. She should know. Her dad was a PBR bull rider and has seven Australian titles. She was a bull rider, too — at age 16, she became the first female ever to qualify in the sport for Australia’s Junior National Finals.
“I’ve been around a lot of bull riders and rough-stock guys over the years, so it’s ironic that I married a calf roper,” she says. “I had to get used to the timed-event style of guy. Calf ropers are more … I wouldn’t say put together, but they’re a little more refined, more business-minded.”
And bull riders? “The rough-stock guys have a little bit more of a wilder edge. If you’re talking about bull riders like JB, those guys are wild fun. They’re just all-or-nothing personalities.
What happens in the bed of a pickup stays in the bed of a pickup.
Rodeo and badass pickups go together like horse and saddle. As in the video for Shea’s new single, “Truck” — a sultry, breezy ode to young love and summer nights with cheeky lyrics: We were young, we were reckless, neither one of us could help it … nothing could hold us back — from the back of the truck.
Ooh la la. Inspired by real experiences? “We’re not going to comment on any of that,” Shea says. “We’re going to leave that off-radar. But I’ve definitely had plenty of great memories in old trucks, including with Tyson.”
As for the lover boy in the video who pulls out a chilled bottle of pink Prosecco for the morning-after toast — props to you, young gent. The blankets, multiple pillows … and is that a bolster!? This boy was prepared.
Shea is preparing, too, for her new EP to drop this November.
This Aussie is one to watch. BIG dreams, BIG talent, and BIG things ahead. Shea Fisher Durfey definitely landed in the right place cuz BIG is the middle name of practically everything in the Lone Star State. So glad she came Out West from Down Under.
“Choosin’ Texas”? Girl, Texas is choosin’ you.
UDHËTO LIRË.
UDHËTO KOMOD.
Rezervo online shpejt, lehtë dhe pa stres.
