ERNEST surprised with an impromptu duet of his latest single at the BNA airport.
The patrons inside Tootsies Orchid Lounge at the Nashville International Airport were treated to a surprise performance of “Flower Shops” on Wednesday (Jan. 12) as the hitmaker awaited his flight to hit the road as support on Chris Lane’s Fill Them Boots Tour.
During the singer/songwriter’s travels, he heard Dakota Striplin covering his latest single in Tootsies. After hearing Striplin covering the track, the Nashville native and 2022 Music Mayhem Artist To Watch just knew that he had to stop and join him to sing the chart-climbing single.
Luckily, someone with ERNEST documented the spur-of-the-moment performance, and he took to Instagram to share the impromptu duet.
“@dakotastriplin was playin Flower Shops as we were walking by, so I had to hop up there one time… as u can tell, we absolutely tore the roof off of Tootsies….” ERNEST captioned the clip.
Watch the impromptu performance below.
Hours after ERNEST joined Striplin at Tootsies, the Australian singer/songwriter shared his rendition of “Flower Shops” on Instagram.
“🌸FLOWER SHOPS🌸 swipe to see @ernest singing it better than me!” he captioned his cover.
Produced by Joey Moi, “Flower Shops” was released on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31). The song is ERNEST’s debut single at country radio and was written by ERNEST alongside Ben Burgess and Mark Holman.
“’Flower Shops’ is a song that isn’t over-written or over-complicated,“ ERNEST shared in a press release. “It’s a sad song with a wink; an honest song about messing up a good thing and running out of sorrys. I wrote it with Ben Burgess and Mark Holman after being on a George Jones/sad Country song kick.”
ERNEST continued, “I didn’t have a hard time going there because I know damn well what it’s like to run out of apologies, and though flowers aren’t ever going to fix it, it’s just about all you can do sometimes. It’s one of my favorite songs, if not my favorite song, I’ve written to date. The response on social media and from fans has been incredible, especially for being an unreleased song up until now. I’m excited for it to be out in the world and even more excited to have one of my best friends, Morgan, hop on it and sing it with me. I am a big believer in Country music remaining honest, regardless of sonics. And this is as honest as it can get.”
“Flower Shops” is set to impact Country radio on January 24.
Recently, ERNEST made his Grand Ole Opry debut, where he performed his song “American Rust” as well as welcomed his longtime friend and collaborator, Morgan Wallen, to perform “Flower Shops.”
From January through March, ERNEST will serve as support on Lane’s Fill Them Boots Tour alongside Lily Rose. See a full list of tour dates below.
Jan. 13 – Boston, Mass. House of Blues
Jan. 14 – Huntington, N.Y. @ The Paramount
Jan. 15 – Wallingford, Conn. @ The Dome
Jan. 20 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ The Fillmore
Jan. 27 – Denver, Colo. @ Fillmore Auditorium
Jan. 28 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ The Complex
Jan. 29 – Boise, Idaho @ Revolution Concert House
Feb. 2 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Wiltern
Feb. 3 –San Diego, Calif. @ SOMA
Feb. 4 – Anaheim, Calif. @ House of Blues
Feb. 10 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Masonic
Feb. 12 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Arizona Federal Theatre
Feb. 17 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Neptune
Feb. 18 – Portland, Ore. @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Feb. 19 – Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada @ Abbotsford Centre
Feb. 25 – Raleigh, N.C. @ The Ritz
Feb. 26 – Myrtle Beach, S.C. @ House of Blues
March 4 – Washington DC @ The Fillmore
March 6 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ The Fillmore
March 10 – New York City @ Hammerstein Ballroom
March 11 – Cleveland, Ohio @ House of Blues
March 12 – Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Roxian Theatre
