Ernest New Album: Release Date and Tracklist

Ernest released his acclaimed Flower Shops (The Album): Two Dozen Roses project in February 2023, with an array of tracks from the record having quickly become fan-favourites, including the infectious ‘Miss That Girl’ and the Jake Worthington-assisted ‘Heartache In My 100 Proof’.

However, excitingly for us fans, Ernest has already turned his gaze and his songwriting pen towards new music. On May 10, the Tennessee native released the touching, heartwarming ode to his wife, Delaney, and his son, Ryman, entitled ‘Takes After You’.

Thematically, the ballad treads in similar territory to Ernest's debut release, Locals Only. Sonically, though, ‘Takes After You’ is reminiscent of the neo-traditional sound that pervaded Flower Shops.

In addition to ‘Takes After You’, Ernest has teased two unreleased songs, ‘Hangin’ On’ and ‘Summertime Flies’, both of which explore the more genre-fusing, beat-driven style of his electrifying 2023 Morgan Wallen collaboration, ‘Cowgirls’.

In June, Ernest spoke to Holler to tease the possibility of another blockbuster Morgan Wallen collaboration, which would presumably feature on the upcoming album.

The following month, the Nashville songsmith confirmed on social media that the new record will feature HARDY, as well as outlining his ideal list of features for the project, which includes Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll and Lukas Nelson.

Earlier in the year, Ernest took to Twitter to usher in a “new era of music”. He qualified this by underlining, “Growth. Not abandonment. There’s just a lot of songs I’ve written and a lot more songs I wanna write and I don’t wanna feel pigeon holed out of cutting em”.

The singer-songwriter, who has co-written a plethora of No. 1 hits for other artists including Jelly Roll's ‘Son Of A Sinner’, Morgan Wallen's ‘You Proof’ and Chris Lane's ‘Big, Big Plans’, expressed his desire to showcase all aspects of his personality through his music.

Ernest explained, “My life is pretty damn good. I'm thankful. I wanna sing about it… At the same time.. I deal with depression and battle with the dark side of life as we all do sometimes.. I wanna sing about that too…”.

He went on to emphasise, “I got a beautiful little boy and an amazing family… I wanna sing about that…. I wanna write all of my story.. past, present and future”.

If this wasn't a significant enough tip-off that Ern is readying fresh material, we've also been treated to the obligatory studio shots that tend to precede a new album rollout.

For instance, the fast-emerging country prodigy accompanied a recent post from the studio with the tantalising caption, “Chipping away at some new music for the culture”.

Given Ernest's songwriting prowess, his collaborative track record and his recent Tweets, we're expecting the upcoming project to feature an array of heavy-hitting guest appearances.

We're still waiting on Ernest, HARDY and Morgan Wallen to release a joint song, with HARDY confirming to Holler last year that this collaboration “will happen” at some point.

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