Ella Langley has added another meaningful tattoo to her growing collection, this time honouring her grandmother who helped encourage her love of music from the very beginning.

Ahead of her sold-out show at Austin’s Moody Center on August 13th, Langley was joined by tattoo artist Hannah Matthews, who runs And You Tattoo, and she went for a small bird sitting on a branch on her forearm. But the design wasn’t as spontaneous as the moment may seem.

“We ended up doing this little birdie on a branch, and it is based off of a picture [Langley's] grandma has,” Matthews explained in a behind-the-scenes video from the day.

It makes the latest addition particularly fitting, given just how important Langley’s grandparents have been to her musical story. The Alabama native previously shared that her paternal grandparents were both musical, with her grandmother singing and her grandfather able to play instruments by ear. Before Ella could even talk, they would sit her next to him at the piano, where she would hum along.

After her grandfather passed away, his guitar was restrung and given to Ella, with Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ becoming the first song she ever taught herself to play. Langley also already has three black birds among her collection of tattoos, although she hasn’t said that her latest bird design is connected to either of these.

Her grandmother has found her way into Langley’s music. On ‘Loving Life Again’, Ella included the familiar “yoo-hoo” her grandma would call whenever the family went looking for her around the house, explaining that she put the little detail into the song for her dad. ‘

‘Closest to Heaven’, meanwhile, was written for her grandparents and inspired by what Ella imagined may have been said during one of their final conversations before her grandfather died.

Langley also added one more tiny piece of ink during the Austin session, getting “Joan” tattooed in honour of the rescue puppy she brought home earlier this summer.