He got an even bigger shock last night, when his track, 7.13, won the APRA Best Country Song Award for 2010 at the New Zealand Country Music Awards ceremony at the St James Theatre, in Gore.
For those who have kept track of Langley's music over the years, from his days with Dunedin rock act Fold to his more recent solo career, the news might prompt a knowing nod, affirming their own views of a writer who, over two decades, has amassed a substantial songbook.
Yesterday, Langley headed to Gore, where he and Chloe Langley (no relation) last night performed 7.13, a spare, lilting composition, to an audience that included fellow song-of-the-year finalists Dianne Swann, of The Bads (So Alive), and Jools Topp (Honky Tonk Angel).
Others were there, too. Tami Neilson, winner of the RIANZ Best Country Album for 2010 for The Kitchen Table Sessions, was back to claim a successive prize following her win with Red Dirt Angel last year; while veterans The Topp Twins (Honky Tonk Angel) and The Bads (for So Alive) rounded out the field.
Despite all the musical festivities in Gore at the weekend, including the popular New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards and its attendant busking competition, Langley wasn't hanging around. Ever busy, he's got another gig lined up.
"I've never been down to it so I'm really looking forward to it [but] we are actually coming back as I have got a gig at Ombrellos on Saturday with Chloe, Hana Fahy and The Fea St Hustle ... we'll get back to town and keep things rolling," he said before the awards night.
Although it may have been Langley's first appearance at the country awards night, it hasn't been for lack of trying.
"I don't know how many times I've entered it, actually. At first, I was writing songs with the barest hint of country - a whiff of hay - but I never got anything back. I was just chucking them in there for a bit of a laugh.
"They were songs that had a bit of an alt-country feel, but with ridiculous titles. One year I sent one in called The Silver Surfer Versus The Giant Hologram. I've probably thrown a couple of other songs at them over the past two or three years.
"I got the email and was really tired and was reading through. I thought it was just a reply saying they had got my entry. A bit further down it said, 'Congratulations'. I was stoked. I really like that song; it has a nice tune," Langley says of 7.13, explaining the inspiration for it came while reading a book.
"I was in Lower Hutt, reading a rubbish novel and there was a quote from the Bible. The phrasing struck me. I sang it in my head, put the book down, grabbed my guitar and wrote it.
"It wasn't until later that I bothered researching what it was about ... I'm not au fait with the Bible, but I really liked that opening line: 'Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction'. It has that stark Baptist fear of God."
In fact, the words have little to do with John the Baptist. They are paraphrased from the Gospel of Matthew (7:13, 14). But never mind the source. Country music has long dabbled in narratives of good and evil, the late Johnny Cash a master of such themes.
"I'm not a religious person, but it's a song that goes from a dark night into the light," Langley explains.
"If you read it as something from the Bible, it could be about the soul coming into the light. But for me, it is basically a love song at the end, thinking of a certain person."
But let's not fence Langley in. Notwithstanding the selection of 7.13 as the best New Zealand country song of the past year, he can write in a variety of styles.
A sampling of several tracks from his forthcoming album, Featherbones, which Langley hopes will be released in the spring, reveal deft touches that bridge a range of genres, from acoustic folk to gentle country-rock.
Certainly, they are far removed from the distorted grunge riffs of Fold, a Dunedin band of the 1990s.
"I look back at my songbook and there are a bunch of songs that were pretty much in the same key, with that same strum, not unlike 7.13," Langley says of his more recent material.
"They just weren't strictly country. I don't really have an affiliation with a strict anything."
A couple of years shy of his 40th birthday, Langley has honed not only his writing skills but also his studio nous, the musician having been involved in the recording of three albums (two with Fold and one with former Dunedin band the George Street Patsys) as well as his debut solo EP, Lost Companions, released on his own Hometown Records label in 2007.
"I have played a few more guitars on this album," Langley says.
"Generally, the songs are what I thought they would be. I didn't want them to be too polished; I wanted to have a few ragged edges.
"I listen to records and might think, 'Gosh, that's an awful-sounding record', but I might love it. Take On The Beach, by Neil Young, stuff that sounds like mud, really. Everybody has got bat ears these days; their ears have been digitally cleaned.
"I like the grit. I like things that come out after repeated listens. I don't want to be presented with something that is super-clean. I like to hear things filtering through the murk."
Still, it is unlikely Langley will camouflage his lyrics with too much dense matter come final mix-down in the next couple of months.
"I'm not trying to cover up anything. There are some really tender spots.
"I'm aware of that. I have to keep singing them. I really enjoy pushing myself to try and do different things.
"I just want to sit down and listen to the album then move on because I've got a whole lot of other stuff that I want to do. I still really like these songs. We've tried to render them as immediate as we can. But if we spend any more time on it, it'll be overcooked."
• Catch him
Matt Langley plays at Ombrellos tonight with Hana Fahy, The Fea St Hustle and others.
