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ERNEST Completes ‘Flower Shops’ Era With ‘Two Dozen Roses’
A year after releasing his beloved ‘Flower Shops’ album, ERNEST expands on the project with 13 new tracks.
ERNEST; Photo by Delaney Royer
February 10 is an especially important day to stop and smell the roses because ERNEST has unveiled the deluxe edition of his critically acclaimed album FLOWER SHOPS (THE ALBUM). With his 13 added cuts, the country star completes his bouquet of Two Dozen Roses with a total of 24 tracks.
The project, rebranded as FLOWER SHOPS (THE ALBUM): Two Dozen Roses, encompass a variety of themes and emotions that captures ERNEST’s true ability to bring a new life to traditional country.
“I think that these songs, when I looked up after six or seven months of writing, it just felt like a continuation of Flower Shops more so than trying to brand it as a whole new album. So then I thought of interesting ways to do it, and having 24 total songs and calling it Two Dozen Roses was kind of a fun concept,” he explained to Country Now.
With the announcement of the expanded collection, ERNEST unveiled three new songs that gave fans a glimpse into what to expect on the new floral arrangement. “Miss That Girl,” “Unhang The Moon,” and “Songs We Used To Sing” each offer their own portion of the narrative at hand.
“’Songs We Used To Sing’ had already kind of been teased throughout the last year and then for ‘Unhang The Moon’ and ‘Miss That Girl,’ those were maybe the last two songs I wrote for the project. I was just really stoked on ’em, and I think that triangle of songs is a safe world for the rest to live inside of,” ERNEST shared on selecting these particular tracks to release first.
The expanded version picks up after the acoustic version of the project’s title track with the smoky tales of “This Fire,” and ends on the countrified nursery rhyme, “Miss That Girl.”
“I definitely was particular with the track listing. I probably could have gone in a couple different routes for the last song, but ‘Miss That Girl’ is almost like a glimmer of hope and a good one to end on. Whatever album comes next, I doubt it’ll be a continuation of this story, but I think that throughout every song I’ve ever dropped, including on Locals Only, you know, something like that will be out in the future.”
Between these previous releases and his new additions like “Burn Out,” “Drunk With My Friends,” and “Wild Wild West,” the impressive track list is intertwined with daring love songs, irreparable heartbreak anthems, upbeat, blissful tunes and even a bit of comedy. Serving as a co-writer on the entire album, ERENST not only taps into a new, heightened level of his singing abilities, but he also showcases the tremendous growth he’s been able to explore as a songwriter.
“My artistry matured in the past year, and I think this album reflects that,” he shared honestly.
The original set of songs features country superstar Morgan Wallen, and the expanded version welcomes rising star Jake Worthington on “Heartache In My 100 Proof,” and songwriting legend Dean Dillon on “What Have I Got To Lose,” which ERNEST co-wrote alongside Dillon and Brian Kelley.
“A special song on the project for me is ‘What Have I Got To Lose’ with Dean Dillon,” ERNEST revealed of the added song. “He’s country music royalty, and I grew up on a lot of his songs, so getting to write a song with him was a dream come true. I took a shot in the dark to see if he wanted to feature on it, and he said yes. He hasn’t featured on very many songs, so to get a Dean Dillon feature is sick.”
Last year, ERNEST truly saw the impact of his title track, “Flower Shops” featuring Morgan Wallen, when he was presented with a platinum plaque.
“It’s just surreal that I get to have a plaque that is me as an artist. I’ve gotten plaques as a writer, but it’s cool with a song that has my voice on it.”
He added, “You can never predict the song to do something like that, but I’m glad the people like the sad boy stuff.”
This honor rounded out a year of success for ERNEST who also sold out his first-ever headlining Sucker For Small Towns Tour in the fall.
“It’s always good to get out there in front of people that show up for you and know all the words to your songs. So, that was awesome. I’ve always been super grateful to get to have a shared audience with the people that I’ve opened for, but part of the growth is having people show up to your own shows and that’s been fun.”
Next up, he will once again be joining Morgan Wallen out on the road on Wallen’s much-anticipated One Night At A Time World Tour.
“I think just being out there with friends is gonna be awesome. It’s a small world of country music and I think there’s a lot of friends in the industry, but this tour feels special.”
The massive tour in support of Wallen’s upcoming third studio album, will kick off on Wednesday, March 15 in Auckland, NZ at the Spark Arena. The U.S. leg of the tour begins on April 14 with back-to-back nights at Milwaukee’s American Family Field.
Click HERE to view a full list of ERNEST’s upcoming tour dates.
Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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