ERNEST's 'Two Dozen Roses' highlights comfort in country's timeless stylings

A year has elapsed since the results of Nashville native and Big Loud Records-signed singer-songwriter ERNEST's now eight-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topping songwriting yielded 2022's mainstream-country beloved throwback album "Flower Shops."

He's returning with "Two Dozen Roses," a deluxe album version of the release, on Feb. 10, 2023.

It's at the pink-painted flower shop on the album's cover -- Belle Meade's location of Nashville chain Flower Express -- where The Tennessean finds a denim jacket and jean-clad ERNEST sitting inside amongst miscellaneous greenery as the sun sets on a Monday afternoon. He's fresh from a songwriting session as he aims to reach his goal of ten No. 1 singles as a songwriter in the coming year

Those sessions these days -- as much of his art concerns itself with -- are a delicate balance between refreshing the genre's cliches without veering into the realm of satire.

Laughing, he dives into a story from earlier in the afternoon on the same day as the interview that highlights this point.

While sitting with songwriter Brad Clawson and steel guitar player Chandler Walters (the latter also a songwriter signed to ERNEST's new publishing company ERN's Cadillac Music), ERNEST says that Clawson asked Waters to play "the saddest steel guitar lick he could play."

Upon hearing the chord, ERNEST says he launched into the following lyric.

"I spent my whole life getting sober to die getting high."

It's important to note here that ERNEST is five years into being married to his wife, Delaney, and they are the parents of a nearly two-year-old son.

"I'm so happy, but I can also write a song about an overdose."

He describes what his fanbase calls "sad boi country" as "writing what I grew up on because it sounds good."

ERNEST feels that country music's eternal beauty lies in its ability to venerate "insane levels of vulnerability" expressed not just in "hyper-masculine songs about loud trucks" but also in its ability to "tug at your heartstrings" with powerful, pop-appealing music.

ERNEST's aiming for ten-fold success for the album that now bears 24 tracks. If that prediction holds, the album has to contain a quintuple-platinum-selling single that will exceed the standard set by his album title single collaboration with Morgan Wallen.

2022 closed with the release of a preview of the double album via a trio of songs already familiar to ERNEST's die-hard live event fans and also part of his bumper crop of 17 songs he was considering for mega-hit potential on his latest release: the lullaby-inspired "Miss That Girl" and two other heartbroken, string-heavy ballads -- "Songs We Used To Sing" and "Unhang The Moon."

Regarding highlighting his new material, he's keen to note that he's not like other stars like Kane Brown, Luke Combs, or Wallen and quickly post screen captures of iPhone audio notes of snippets of new songs.

"There are people who live in Nashville -- and elsewhere -- who haven't even heard or seen me sing any of my songs," ERNEST jokes. Alongside his broad marketplace footprint, he'll be opening on many dates for Morgan Wallen and HARDY on the former's "One Night At A Time" world tour throughout the year.

There are other reasons that organic familiarity with ERNEST's work will grow in the coming year.

Mainstream country having a landscape of sonic inspirations open to an unprecedented degree spurred him into doubling down into the genre's eras between 1970-1990 to craft his success on "Flower Shops: Two Dozen Roses."

"It's incredible that people are making country music into an experimental landscape where it can be whatever they want it to be. For me, that means that I can write 'You Proof' and 'Wasted On You' for Morgan [Wallen, from his 2021-released "Dangerous: The Double Album"] or co-write Jelly Roll's "Son of a Sinner." Still, on my project, I can also write traditional songs that pay homage to things I grew up loving, still like listening to and can have fun making for myself."

Moreover, he's aided by the likes of Country Music Hall of Fame-inducted songwriter Dean Dillion, vaunted pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin and legendary session guitarist Brent Mason in his recent work.

"These records don't just sound like the stuff I love; it's being played by them, too," says the performer. That process doesn't just yield songs like the Dillon and ERNEST co-written ballad "What Have I Got to Lose." Instead, it offers the building blocks that pass down work ethic and styles of craftsmanship to a new generation.

ERNEST views songs that Dillon wrote with George Strait, like the "King of Country Music"'s 1985 hit "The Chair," as fundamental to his work as anything written by Merle Haggard, John Mayer, or George Jones' 1980 classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

"It was a pleasure to discover that [Dean Dillon] and I are similar in how we attack songwriting. I left that session honored to have had the chance to work with him and become his friend."

However, what he doesn't mention -- owing to his apparent desire to shy away from over-hyping his success -- is that his growing ubiquity in country music's expanding commercial marketplace puts him in a position that's different than most other modern country stars.

Listen to country radio, and he's had a song at the top of the charts every other month for roughly five years. Look at the heads of many mainstream country music fans, and you will likely find one of his "Flower Shops"-branded Stevenson Ranch trucker hats. Head out to ERNEST's favorite Nashville bar -- midtown's Losers. If he's on stage at the venue's famed weekly Whiskey Jam event, the entire crowd will be singing that previously-mentioned song loud enough that it'll be heard on apartment balconies a half-mile away.

Even deeper, songs like "Drunk With My Friends" -- down to its laughable spoken word intro -- offer audacious homages to songs like Garth Brooks' 1990 hit "Friends In Low Places," which plays well with moments like the singalong that occurred at August's infamous Whiskey Jam concert.

"It's a relatable romantic comedy in song form," says ERNEST. "Any guy who fishes or plays golf has that dreaded conversation with their significant other where they beg for forgiveness for those [over-indulgent] moments. That's the fun crowd singalong that my live set needed.

Regarding the live set, "red dirt"-styled honky-tonk two-stepper "Heartache In My Hundred Proof" features suburban Houstonite Jake Worthington's unmistakable twang on the vocals. If you are wondering where the "Brooks & Dunn" falls in ERNEST's collection of throwback vibes, it's here.

"I've fearlessly doubled down on my love of how timeless country standards connect with a fanbase that has been willing to support my music -- whether I'm singing on writing it -- for the past five years," says ERNEST when reflecting on his success of late.

"This has led to a remarkable moment in my career where as much as I've made a little room to exhale, I'm also holding my breath and preparing to dive back in and get to work."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ERNEST's 'Two Dozen Roses' highlights comfort in country's timeless stylings