ERNEST Launches DeVille Records, Redefining Nashville Artistry With Vision and Swagger

In 1935, Bill Mitchell, a famed American automobile designer, joined General Motors' Art and Colour section, launching a career that spanned over 42 years at the multinational automotive manufacturing company.

During his tenure, Mitchell guided teams to create over 72 million automobiles, including classics like the Cadillac Sixty Special, Chevrolet Bel Air, Corvette Stingray and, most notably, the Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

The DeVille name is deeply entrenched in the history of American luxury vehicles. Over the course of five decades, it has undergone eight style evolutions to meet the demands of changing preferences and technology.

Mitchell's fierce vision and adaptable artistry made every step of the DeVille's journey a critical and commercial success while establishing it as the crème de la crème of Cadillac's showroom. His life's work impacted the day-to-day lives of drivers across America, fueling significant advancements in the dynamic future of the automobile industry itself.

The recent launch of ERNEST's aptly titled DeVille Records is most assuredly no coincidence, signifying much more than just his steadfast love for his 1975 model. Since his first musical offerings, ERNEST has dedicated himself to becoming a diligent leader in the genre, observantly adapting and advancing his artistic reach with every integral step since those first pivotal moments, like the history of the treasured Deville he owns.

A Nashville native, Ernest Keith Smith, mononymously known by his first name, has had a connection to music since his childhood, identifying an early interest of the written language through the cadence and structure of freestyle rap and country music. Though growing up in a baseball family, ERNEST's path was driven to the field instead of the studio, until an unexpected heart attack forced him to end his collegiate baseball career.

While most would wrestle with one of life's trying chapters, ERNEST instead returned to his hometown to pursue one of his early passions: storytelling through music. His preternatural efforts were met with early success, the songwriter applying his deep understanding of line and melody structures reminiscent of a rapper's approach while thoughtfully weaving in traditional foundations of country music.

Since his first success with Florida George Line on 2016's 'Dig Your Roots,' Ernest has gone on to write hits for Lauren Alaina, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, and Morgan Wallen, to name just a few. This showcases his malleability in creating broad-reaching material for a diverse roster of artists.

None of his songwriting catalog has been as strikingly transformative as his singular work as an artist, though. The transition from 2017's severely underrated country rap single 'Dopeman' to 2019's breezy, Chesney-laced 'I Think I Love You' showcased his chameleon-like abilities as a vocalist, effortlessly gliding from style to style with tonal ease.

This growth guided the eventual breakthrough of 2022's FLOWER SHOPS, where the title track found significant notoriety and led to his Grand Ole Opry debut. Nevertheless, FLOWER SHOPS the album revealed more about ERNEST's abilities than merely securing a feature with Morgan Wallen; 'Sucker for Small Towns' infused the magic of summer 90's country mixed with 70's soul, while the sleepy swoon of 'Tennessee Queen' oozes with classic heartthrob magnetism.

His modern experimentations with this traditional-leaning sound led him to develop an early career masterpiece with 2024's NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. With this album, ERNEST fully embodies his musicality, honoring the hometown that influenced his artistry while taking the next step forward in shaping his artistic future.

Outside of outstanding songs like 'Ain't As Easy' and 'Smokin' Gun', NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE further exposed ERNEST's strength in building a community through music, providing effortless features from Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Lukas Nelson, Morgan Wallen and even his own young son Ryman, a twinkling star in his own right.

With the launch of his own label under an imprint with Big Loud Records, ERNEST has taken this strong community focus, clearly learned from the baseball field and writers' rooms alike, to add another incremental element in bringing his full-blown vision to life. With a refreshingly nostalgic hands-on approach, DeVille Records seeks to maintain a prime focus on developing artists while crafting their unique brands from the ground up.

While it is certainly not new for artists to partner with long-time labels on their own imprint, it is rare for communication surrounding such a project to focus on themes like individuality with "creative swagger" and "collaborative spirit," particularly when unveiling a business initiative.

It's also almost revolutionary to see the immediate execution of this vision across DeVille's social media channels, with Chandler Walters, Rhys Rutherford, and Cody Lohden taking center stage in introductory videos and single releases, all under the collaborative umbrella with ERNEST.

While he has jovially boasted that DeVille will "change the game," the pre-release buzz surrounding the label's first collective musical release, Cadillac Sessions, has already done so by harkening back to old-school label efforts with a superbly modern twist.

Given his consistent charting track record, it's understandable that developing an additional musical entity would be the next step in his trajectory as an artist, songwriter, and entrepreneur. But DeVille has made something else clear: ERNEST’s striking visual style is more than just branding—it’s an unfiltered, confident reflection of who he is.

Owing in part to his wife Delaney Royer's digital talents, ERNEST shares himself through candid markers of life on the road, creativity in the studio, his love of fashion, and tender moments with family, all with a distinctly remarkable sense of honesty and humor. While he does this all clearly to best represent himself, by doing so, he encourages all around him to bring their most authentic selves to life too. As he recently shared on Instagram during a humorous moment with new artist Cody Lohden that apparently got the young artist his record deal, "Pay attention, kids. Just be you."

Bill Mitchell once infamously shared, "Frank Lloyd Wright did not go around ringing doorbells asking people 'what kind of houses they wanted.'" when his team suggested starting to ask for opinions in the development of vehicle prototypes. This is where Mitchell and ERNEST drastically differ as leaders in their respective industries.

In writing his own visionary narrative, ERNEST not only plays to all of his musical and personal strengths by allowing those areas to naturally evolve but also invites a steady, present team of collaborators, artists, and family members to be part of the process.

His best-in-class approach is not only bringing forth the most intriguing country music of the last decade, but is intentionally creating his own DeVille-like longevity in the industry.

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