DeVille Records - Cadillac Sessions

When there’s a new voice appearing in the country world every week, it’s hard to keep up; having a new way of introducing exciting voices is needed. Old-school ERNEST is fostering some of these brand new names with his fresh label, Deville Records, providing a home, a studio and a truckload of knowledge.

Cadillac Sessions features three new country boys, a few big-name features thrown into the mix and a healthy amount of ambition. Yet, as the album moves from originals to covers of the biggest songs they could find in their classic country collection, this Cadillac might be a little lost in the backroads.

So far in his career, ERNEST has been somewhat indefinable, test driving every model in the country collection until he finds one with a smooth drive. That’s reflected on this record with a southern-funk groove feature from Snoop Dogg on ‘Gettin’ Gone’ standing against traditional harmonies from rising star Jake Worthington on a cover of George Jones & Merle Haggard’s ‘Yesterday’s Wine’ and a country-leaning trap beat on ‘Did it Anyway’. Deep down, though, he’s always had an old soul. Over the last few years Ern’s taken a few different roads, but with Cadillac Sessions it looks like he’s heading in one direction: out of Nashville and a little further south.

A thread of classic country commitment is laced through Cadillac Sessions, but it runs along a fairly rocky road. Cody Lohden is at the contemporary end of the spectrum; ‘Tail Light, Porch Light, Miller Lite’ is a radio-ready country-pop hit, no doubt. In the neon lights of a honkytonk, Chandler Walters sits closer to the ‘90s revival end, and somewhere in the middle is the clever writing of Nashville native Rhys Rutherford. Linking them all together comes a couple of moments from Ern himself.

Where the Cadillac crew find their similarities is in their writing, each skilled at digging out a hook and replicating the simplicity of the songwriters gone-by. However, whilst there are nice moments from the three newbies across Cadillac Sessions, there are always going to be the songs you return to on a mixtape, the ones that will make into your own daily rotation.

Rutherford’s ‘Southern Belle’ could easily have been a hit for a big name, so it’s exciting to see him keeping genius lyrics like “If they pour me one more / I’ll get to looking up a number / That rings a southern belle” for himself. Steeped in whiskey and perfect for a hot summer night soundtrack, it’s an impressively memorable debut. Meanwhile, the Western swing of Walters’ ‘Worth the Trouble’ is a blindingly bright spark, for a relatively new kid on the country block, this track exudes confidence. With his authentic cover of the Vince Gill ‘One More Last Chance’, Walters seems like a safe bet for the most-promising upcomer award.

Where the album gets slightly confused is in its tribute section to classic country. A cover of Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Help Me Make it Through The Night’ from Ern doesn’t feel like it should be in the same mix as the modern production on Lohden’s take on ‘Two Dozen Roses’, one in which that infamous key change just misses the mark. There’s some impressive instrumental moments, and no lack of pedal steel, but an uncomfortable disparity in the choices leaves the album pretty cold. With a collection of skilled and hungry young artists, letting them loose on a couple more originals might have maintained a consistency that seems to be missing, and kept the album driving forwards.

The vision is there. It’s positive and it’s promising, but those Cadillac lights are perhaps just a little hazy. For a first venture, DeVille Records is looking like an ambitious addition to the country music scene, and one that, once shaped, is bound to be a bright light on an overcrowded backroad.

7/10

ERNEST, Chandler Walters, Cody Lohden and Rhys Rutherford's 2025 project, Cadillac Sessions, is available everywhere now via DeVille Records.

For more on Ernest, see below: