Singer/songwriter Ernest made his Grand Ole Opry debut last night.
Stepping into the circle for the very first time as a performer is always a huge career milestone for any country artist, and he brought out his friend and frequent collaborator, Morgan Wallen, to join him.
A surprise for everyone at the show, Morgan took the stage to duet their fan-favorite “Flower Shops” during Ernest’s set.
Written by Ernest, along with Ben Burgess and Mark Holman, it’s an old fashioned, steel-soaked, country heartbreaker, which was actually inspired by George Jones’ classic “A Good Year For The Roses”.
Ernest, a Nashville native himself, has 11 co-writes on Morgan’s 2021, album Dangerous, and has been touring with Morgan and Hardy over the last handful of months.
The performance however, didn’t come without controversy.
In light of Morgan Wallen’s well-publicized racial slur incident from February of 2021, a number of people took to Twitter to voice their disappointment with the Grand Ole Opry for allowing Morgan to perform, including a number of country artists.
Jason Isbell weighed in, saying the Opry “broke the hearts of a legion of aspiring Black country artists” by permitting Morgan on stage.
Of course, Jason wrote “Cover Me Up,” a song that Morgan recorded for his 2021 album Dangerous, the highest-selling album of the year.
“Flower Shops” is also the first official single Ernest has put out to country radio.
“Flower Shops”
