Song Review – Ernest’s “Gettin’ Gone” (feat. Snoop Dogg)

#577 (Country Soul) on the Country DDS.
Your natural inclination is to tell Ernest to choose a lane. With songs like his Double Platinum Top 20 hit “Flower Shops,” or “Would If I Could” from his 2024 album Nashville, Tennessee, he captures the absolute best of traditional country music in the modern context. He’s more true country than even Zach Top, and with better songs. The guy truly deserves to be in the conversation as one of the top traditionalists of our time.
Then of course he’ll be hanging out with Morgan Wallen and Hardy, and release some sort of godawful Bro-Country redux. Both of these sides of Ernest were on display when he performed at the Two Step Inn Festival in central Texas earlier this month. He played the two aformentioned traditional country tunes and it was excellent. The previous year Ernest also hosted a Keith Whitley tribute at the festival with Zach Top and Sierra Ferrell performing. It was lights out too.
But then Ernest pulled out some sort of drum-programmed hip-hop garbage at Two Step Inn, and then sang “I Had Some Help”—the huge mega summer hit from Morgan Wallen and Post Malone. Ernest was one of the eight songwriters on the track, so apparently he has just as much agency to perform it as anyone else, even if it stuck out like a sort thumb at a traditional/independent country festival.
When word leaked out that Ernest had been spotted in downtown Nashville recently with Snoop Dogg shooting some sort of video, you expected the worst. Let’s not forget that Ernest’s career started in country rap and Bro-Country even before he blew up as part of the Morgan Wallen crew. Hanging out with Snoop Dogg could only lead to some terrible country rap hybrid.
But as bad as this could have been, it doesn’t sound bad at all. Instead of mixing country and rap, it blends country and soul, not dissimilar to the music of folks like Brent Cobb or Adam Hood, with a distinct vintage feel. It’s Southern mood music. And no, it’s not really Snoop Dogg’s “gone country” moment any more than singing “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die” with Willie Nelson was, which to be frank, was more shticky and cringe than this is.
Snoop Dogg isn’t going country. At this point he’ll do anything. He’s out there starring in T-Mobile commercials. How gangster. Really, what this song is mostly about is Ernest starting his own label called DeVille Records, which will nest beneath the surging label Big Loud. This is the reason Ernest is driving a vintage Cadillac DeVille in the video for “Gettin’ Gone.”
Snoop Dogg’s verses are really what drag the song down. They just don’t offer a lot of value to what the song is supposed to be about and are more about turning the attention to Snoop Dogg. And since it’s Snoop Dogg, of course there has to be weed references and such. At this point Snoop Dogg feels like a caricature of himself.
In this moment when Lana Del Rey, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone 2.0, Chappell Roan, Julien Baker and Torres, Beyoncé, and just about everyone else is deciding to “go country,” this feels harmless, or almost welcomed. You want to get incited about a country/rap collaboration, try on “All The Way” by BigXthaPlug featuring Bailey Zimmerman, which happens to be the #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at the moment.
As strange as it may seem, Ernest is part of the effort pulling country more country these days, including influencing Morgan Wallen more in that direction. If he wants to have some fun with Snoop Dogg, it might be forgettable, but it also feels harmless.
6.5/10
April 15, 2025 @ 8:35 am
The rap parasite is dying and looking for a new host.
April 15, 2025 @ 9:38 am
Rap isn’t dying, there is just an oversaturation in the market. There is no talent barrier to entry and anyone who wants to try to be a rap artist can.
This Snoop/Ernest song doesn’t have any rap elements other than Snoop himself but Snoop is basically doing spoken word instead of rapping. There will be an increasing influx of aspiring rap artists in country if it continues to be profitable.
April 15, 2025 @ 3:08 pm
As the P. Diddy court case progresses, the rap parasite will seek refuge in Nashville, following the lead of the snake head, Cowboy Carter.
April 16, 2025 @ 10:01 am
This morning I was thinking about Country music’s relationship with rap and what is a clear way to define the boundary of “Country”. In the 90’s there were some cheesy attempts to half-way rap, however those artists had traditional Country-sounding music.
I would define what makes an artist “Country” and the ability for that artist to be country as the ability to cover a Merle Haggard song. It’s the ability to be able to sing that slow shuffle or waltz. This is why the more objectively crappy artists like Chris Janson and Jake Owens are Country. (Both of those two did a good cover of Footlights at a Merle tribute concert) Kacey Musgraves covered the Hag, so did Cheryl Crow. My opinion on this may change but Zach Bryan isn’t Country for this same reason – he can’t sing to a shuffle beat. His music is something else but he is embraced in the genre because there is no where else for him. Again BigButtplug and Bailey Zimmerman could not cover Haggard – they are not and cannot ever be Country. I’m not saying an artist’s music has to sound like Haggard’s music but that they have the ability to cover one of his songs.
April 15, 2025 @ 8:37 am
Snoop Dogg is a music lover of all genres, you can tell in his production and how he does his own stuff. He also had that song with Willie on one of his albums called Superman that is similar to this in how he approaches the track.
April 15, 2025 @ 8:55 am
There was also the Johnny Cash Remixed album that Snoop Dogg did with John Carter Cash.
April 15, 2025 @ 9:12 am
that….wasn’t as good as this
April 15, 2025 @ 8:51 am
This is 100% better than I thought it was going to be. I was ready for this to be awful. I quite like it.
April 15, 2025 @ 9:32 am
Forgettable and harmless is exactly right. My minor dyslexia (joke) read BigXthaPlug as buttplug.
April 15, 2025 @ 10:15 am
Maybe we were supposed to read it like that because it got me for a second too.
April 15, 2025 @ 10:55 am
I looked up BigXthaPlug on Youtube and there is no other accurate way to describe it than mental retardation with money.
April 15, 2025 @ 9:55 am
song is better than the video. Too bad he didn’t actually get a Brent Cobb or Adam Hood to do the snoop parts.
April 15, 2025 @ 8:58 pm
I agree, the song has a nice groove to it but the video is cringe with all the posturing for the camera.
April 15, 2025 @ 10:19 am
That Bailey Zimmerman song being on country radio is a travesty. That’s a rap song through and through with an (allegedly) country artist singing a hook. it’s not even a terrible pop-rap song – it just belongs nowhere near country airwaves.
April 15, 2025 @ 3:40 pm
It’s quite reassuring however that it hasn’t made the slightest dent in radio…yet. Zimmerman is still climbing the Airplay chart with “Holy Smokes”. Whether that’ll change remains to be seen
April 16, 2025 @ 6:51 pm
I have yet to hear the Zimmerman/BigX thing on radio. It must be streaming and downloading through the roof to get to No. 1. Hopefully it and “New to Country” never soil the airwaves.
I don’t find Zimmerman as objectionable as Trig and others here do. “Where It Ends” was an OK bit of early-’00s-influenced emo-pop-country-whatever. “Holy Smokes” is a decent pop tune with hardly any country elements except for the church reference in the lyrics. I like the line “Hangin’ on to me like a cross on the rear view does” a lot more than I should, but I hate “Life wasn’t heavy in the back of that Chevy” (and just about all lyrics with car/truck brands in them) unconditionally. To me, he’s a neutral influence on mainstream country, not a Walker Hayes or Tyler Hubbard-level threat.
April 15, 2025 @ 12:51 pm
This song rips. That’s all I have to say about that.
April 15, 2025 @ 1:09 pm
This song can be used by millions in this nation to improve their health. If any of you are overweight, which is not good, all it takes is a brief listen and you will hurl everything you’ve eaten in the past 24 hours and, what’s more, you will not be able to put any type of food in your mouth for at least a week, due to the lingering nausea. I predict that, on average, most will lose at least 25 pounds.
April 15, 2025 @ 1:16 pm
“Get gone”
“Gettin’ gone”
This is the new “girl.” The most annoying, overused phrase in modern country.
April 15, 2025 @ 7:21 pm
Yup. Good ol’ harmless fun. I like it. It could have been a *lot* worse.
April 15, 2025 @ 9:44 pm
Honestly a lot better than I expected, and a lot of fun overall.
April 16, 2025 @ 2:29 am
This Ernest guy is basically more country than Paul Cauthen and based on his hand signals, that is a big insult to Paul Cauthen at this point.
April 16, 2025 @ 4:29 am
LOVE IT! At least Snoop being Snoop… instead of Beyoncé who came out with a whole Country album and it’s aweful!!
April 16, 2025 @ 6:07 am
I saw this and gave it a listen just to see how bad it would be. Surprisingly it wasn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t call it good either. It was much better than the next song I listened to though, Lil Bit Country from Chanel West Coast. Chanel was motivated apparently by the success of Jelly Roll and Shaboozy to release a “Country” song. Have a feeling this is just the beginning of the non country “Country” songs this summer.
April 16, 2025 @ 7:41 am
They should both get gone.
April 16, 2025 @ 8:15 am
Got a JJ Cale/Tractors/Eric Clapton Lay Down Sally shuffle sound.to these ears.
April 16, 2025 @ 12:23 pm
No Rachel Brooke album review yet?
April 16, 2025 @ 12:56 pm
I’m constantly listen to albums. I am constantly reviewing albums. I can’t review them all. Rachel Brook’s album is on the radar and being considered for review.
April 22, 2025 @ 1:17 pm
Any news about Clinton Gregory lately, or did the drugs get the best of him for good?
Poor Clinton. He deserves better.
April 17, 2025 @ 12:03 pm
> The guy truly deserves to be in the conversation as one of the top traditionalists of our time.
Brother, come on now… private school kid from Green Hills with a drum machine hip hop album is not a country traditionalist. He’s an artistic weathervane. He mimics it well, ok, good job. He’s a simulacrum.
April 17, 2025 @ 1:53 pm
Whatever you want to call it, it’s traditional country, and it’s impossible to dispute it. When I reviewed his last album, I rated the songs as traditional country on a 1 to 10 scale. 14 of them graded 10. I’m not saying my eyes aren’t wide open about this guy. They most definitely are. But you can’t start calling balls and strikes on a different sale just because you don’t like a dude.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-ernests-nashville-tennessee/
It is ironic that the two major guys in mainstream country that are actual Nashville natives are Ernest and Jelly Roll. It really says something about the culture of that city.
April 17, 2025 @ 4:01 pm
Sure, but even Jelly Roll grew up in the hood. Ernest, Thomas Rhett, Mitchell Tenpenny, these guys all grew up in upper middle class suburbs of Nashville and have label connections. Whatever comes of that is all mimicry. And I like his music just fine. Midland makes good music too but we’re not kidding ourselves Mr Male Model either, are we?
At least Morgan Wallen is actually from the country
April 17, 2025 @ 1:12 pm
I don’t hate this.
Snoop is definitely a sellout and a caricature of himself, but this is much better than I expected it to be.
April 17, 2025 @ 1:16 pm
About nothing, but not half bad. Even if it sounds like he is covering Cobb
April 19, 2025 @ 2:29 pm
I expected a shitshow with this on paper, but this honestly sounds decent.
I will add it to don’t really see the point of this song’s existence aside from Ernest scratching meeting Snoop Dogg off of his bucket list. It just lacks any memorable quality essentially being their attempt at a cross between a blues song and their interpretation of Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Walk Side”.
April 19, 2025 @ 8:57 pm
Snoop is a disgrace these days. Lower than 6ix9ine
April 20, 2025 @ 3:18 am
Snoop’s voice is pleasant, if nothing else, and he can sing a proper phrase when he’s in the mood.
That’s not a given with rap artists.
April 21, 2025 @ 1:44 pm
It’s always interesting to me how often “better than I thought” is really code for “sounds like shit.”
I don’t care how good it is relative to what people thought it would be, it’s still shit. Why pay any attention to it as long as there almost any other thing to listen to.
This site is called SavingCountryMusic. Why give this shit and Lana del Boring and all the others trying to get a piece of the pie any traction. Fuck ’em.
Save country music.
April 21, 2025 @ 2:22 pm
Okay, so first off, mentioning Lana Del Ray in passing with all the other people that have “gone country” in the last year or so is all the attention I’ve given her, so I’m not sure what the gripe is there. And yes, challenging the idea that all you have to do to “go country” is simply declare it is the exact type of thing SavingCountryMusic.com was founded to do, an no different than what this website has been doing for 18 years. This is FOUNDATIONAL to Saving Country Music. It would be a dereliction of duty to NOT address this stuff.
Does that mean it’s done at the expense of talking about actual country artists. Of course not. Just today I posted a review from a bluegrass festival in Luckenbach, and a review for the new Pug Johnson album for you and everyone else to ignore. I had people giving me hell that I hadn’t reviewed Pug Johnson. So I did, and it hasn’t received a single comment in four hours, and virtually no attention on social media. Same for the Luckenbach review. In fact, I post these kinds of things, traffic goes DOWN on the website from the lack of interest. It would literally be more beneficial for me to post nothing.
Ernest’s last album was 90% traditional country, and might have been one of the most traditional country albums released all of last year. He also does stuff like this. As I said in the article, I kind of don’t even know what to make of him. But a lot of people asked me to comment on it, so I did.
I always appreciate feedback from readers and take it to heart. But when people pass over 10 articles to come complain about something posted a week ago and act like it’s indicative of Saving Country Music’s coverage, that says more about your browsing habits than my content.
You’ve been around here a while WTF Guy and I appreciate you reading. But I’m really surprised to see a comment like this because you should know where my heart and priorities are. If you and others don’t want to read these kinds of articles, don’t read them. If you want stuff that highlights actual country artists, read those instead. I can’t customize every single article I publish to the whims of each reader. I do the best I can.
April 23, 2025 @ 11:22 pm
There is no connection to the deeper roots anymore. It all ends ca. 1995; that’s how deep they’re able to dig.
Nobody does country, jazz, blues or pop like they did it in the 60’s, 50’s, 40’s or the 30’s anymore. Chet Baker, Les Paul, Dean Martin, Jimmie Rodgers, T-Bone Walker, Peter Green, Beatles, Merle Haggard, Ernest Rubb, Ray Price, Chuck Berry, even Bobby Darin and Buddy Holly… forgotten, all of them. I used to hear their influences way into the early 1990’s.
No more.