Ernest and Dean Dillon deserve ALL the flowers for “What Have I Got To Lose.”
The tune is part of Ern’s new FLOWER SHOPS (THE ALBUM): Two Dozen Roses deluxe record, which is the addition to his 2022 project that included “Flower Shops” with Morgan Wallen.
And on the whole, the production is beyond fantastic, with tons of steel guitar and clever, funny, introspective lyrics that further cement his place as one of the premiere writers in Nashville.
You probably initially recognize Ernest’s name for co-write’s on songs like Morgan Wallen’s #1 hit “Wasted On You,” and “Dangerous,” from his incredibly successful 2021 Dangerous: The Double Album, but he’s certainly his own artist in every sense at this point, and definitely someone to keep your eye on in the country space going forward.
“What Have I Got To Lose” is the perfect example of that, too, as it’s a good old fashioned honky tonk heartbreaker about drowning your sorrows away at the bar, as the narrator realizes that, now that his girl is gone, he doesn’t have much else in his life left to lose…
In fact, the song was actually co-written with Dean and Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley, and of course, Dean is country royalty whose name you probably recognize from penning countless hits for The King himself, George Strait.
Of the duet, which Ernest impressively somehow managed to also get Dean to lend his vocals for, Ern says it was a dream come true to work with Dean and have him on this record:
“A special song on the project for me is ‘What Have I Got To Lose’ with Dean Dillon.
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.”
It’s easily by far and away my favorite on this deluxe edition, so definitely do yourself a favor and check it out:
And as for the rest of the tracklist, that features two dozen tunes (hence the album name), Ernest is a co-writer on each one.
He previously released the trio of songs, “Miss That Girl,” “Unhang The Moon,” and “Songs We Used To Sing” from the new batch.
The Nashville native is headed in a really interesting direction with his sound, and it seems like he wants to keep cranking out country hits, tweeting this out as a statement on album release day:
“Im glad it’s out. Y’all enjoy. Thanks for letting me make COUNTRY MUSIC.”
I’m here for it…
The lyrics on every song are of course, super solid, and full of clever wordplay and funny one-liners that show his personality and make his music truly unique and separate him from most of his Nashville counterparts.
With Ernest, these songs are authentically who he is as both an artist and a person, and as a result, will help solidify his place as one of the best, most exciting up and comers in Music City.
Make sure you check out some of my early favorites while you’re here, too…
“Heartache In My 100 Proof (feat. Jake Worthington)”:
“Anything But Sober”
“Drunk With My Friends”
“Wild Wild West”
FLOWER SHOPS (THE ALBUM): Two Dozen Roses tracklist:
1. Sucker For Small Towns (Ernest Keith Smith, Jacob Durrett, Ashley Gorley)
2. Tennessee Queen (Ernest Keith Smith, Dan Isbell, Jordan Schmidt)
3. Classic (Ernest Keith Smith, Jacob Durrett)
4. Feet Wanna Run (Ernest Keith Smith, Chris LaCorte, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
5. Comfortable When I’m Crazy (Ernest Keith Smith, Rodney Clawson)
6. Flower Shops (feat. Morgan Wallen) (Ernest Keith Smith, Ben Burgess, Mark Holman)
7. Did It With You (Ernest Keith Smith, Rodney Clawson, Nathan Spicer)
8. What It’s Come To (Ernest Keith Smith, Lily Rose, Ryan Vojtesak)
9. If You Were Whiskey (Ernest Keith Smith, Michael Carter, Ben Hayslip)
10. Some Other Bar (Ernest Keith Smith, Ashley Gorley, Ryan Vojtesak)
11. Flower Shops (feat. Morgan Wallen) [Acoustic] (Ernest Keith Smith, Ben Burgess, Mark Holman)
12. This Fire (Ernest Keith Smith, Rocky Block, Julian Bunetta, John Ryan)
13. Wild Wild West (Ernest Keith Smith, Jacob Durrett, Rafe Tenpenny)
14. Hill (Ernest Keith Smith, Jordan Schmidt, Brett Tyler)
15. Burn Out (Ernest Keith Smith, Andy Albert, Jordan Dozzi, Hunter Phelps)
16. Nothin To Lose (Ernest Keith Smith, Mark Holman, Josh Osborne)
17. Songs We Used To Sing (Ernest Keith Smith, Justin Ebach, Charles Kelley)
18. Done At A Bar (Ernest Keith Smith, Josh Thompson)
19. Drunk With My Friends (Ernest Keith Smith, Jordan Schmidt, Josh Thompson)
20. Anything But Sober (Ernest Keith Smith, Alysa Vanderheym)
21. What Have I Got To Lose (feat. Dean Dillon) (Ernest Keith Smith, Brian Kelley, Dean Dillon)
22. Heartache In My 100 Proof (feat. Jake Worthington) (Ernest Keith Smith, Jordan Schmidt, Josh Thompson)
23. Unhang The Moon (Ernest Keith Smith, Grady Block, Brad Clawson, Jacob Durrett)
24. Miss That Girl (Ernest Keith Smith, Brad Clawson, Jacob Durrett)
