Matthew McConaughey performs onstage during \u2018The Rivals Of Amziah King\u2019 special screening at Matthew McConaughey Cinema on August 10, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Rick Kern\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
What\u2019s better than having a song that\u2019s been #1 for 17 weeks? Having an Oscar-winning actor sing that song.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wednesday night on The Late Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Matthew McConaughey ended up playing and singing a bluegrass version of Ella Langley\u2019s \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d as part of the show\u2019s ongoing Audience Suggestion Box segment.<\/p>\n
During the segment, Fallon claimed that a viewer had suggested<\/a>\u00a0it would be a \u201cdream come true\u201d for her if he managed to combine \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d with McConaughey\u2019s upcoming movie The Rivals of Amziah [am ZIE uh] King, in which he plays a bluegrass musician.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is The Tonight Show, where dreams become reality,\u201d Fallon announced, as the curtain opened to reveal<\/a> McConaughey, playing the mandolin in a bluegrass band called The Last Bison. Fallon joined them, playing washboard.<\/p>\n Ella reposted a clip of the performance on her Instagram Story<\/a> and captioned it, \u201cI may never get over this.\u201d And on the original post,<\/a> she commented, \u201cOmg.\u201d<\/p>\n What made the moment even more special is that McConaughey is actually from Texas. He was born in Uvalde, raised in Longview and later attended UT-Austin. And speaking of Austin, that\u2019s where Ella is performing on Thursday night.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n