Pat McAfee Says Ernest Has Helped Him Record 7 Songs, With The First Titled “Dookie” Dropping Tonight

Pat McAfee has got himself a song coming out… and a country music artist and producer helped make the sports personality’s vision a reality.

In case you didn’t know, Ernest (whose full name is Ernest Keith Smith) is one of the most talented music makers in all of Nashville. He’s a singer, songwriter, producer and label owner that has over a dozen No. 1 hits to his name. Every big name in country music wants to work with him.

And evidently, some of the biggest names in sports do too.

Whether you call yourself a fan of Pat McAfee or not, there’s no denying that the 38-year-old has really carved out a lane for himself. He flipped a punting career in the NFL into a sports media empire, and now, he’s one of the faces of ESPN, all while having the freedom to do whatever he wants on ESPN.

One of his large, front-facing roles with the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” is being an analyst on College GameDay. McAfee came in at the perfect time, as the aging Lee Corso was being phased out. He gives a spark to the show, and makes sure that no one is ever taking themselves too seriously.

And according to the sports personality, there was something that happened on College GameDay this year that’s being spun into… Pat McAfee’s music career:

“Thursday at midnight, I’ll be releasing my first song ‘Dookie.’ Yes, the open from Oregon the first time this year got flipped into a freestyle which got made into an actual song, which then led to a conversation with a couple of people who are really good at music.

Then all of the sudden, we’re recording some songs. Then all of the sudden, ‘Dookie’ is ready. Then all of the sudden, we’re gonna put it out on all platforms. Then how about all the other songs we got? Let’s do those too.”

Can’t say that I expected to hear that.

From the sounds of it, Pat McAfee didn’t expect it either. He’s called his music venture a crazy edition to his life, and said that his journey into music production has been as much fun as he’s ever had. That’s probably because he’s working with some really talented people.

In that clip above, McAfee later says that a connection with Jelly Roll led to he and Ernest getting together, and that’s when the magic started happening:

“Got a chance to meet these guys and talk to Jelly a little bit. He was like, ‘Let me introduce you to Ernest.’ Ernest is obviously one of the biggest music minds that’s out there right now. Then all of the sudden, I’m in a studio in Nashville and I’m watching these geniuses do their thing.”

Working with Ernest and Big Loud Records, Pat McAfee is now checking another box off of his crazy list of life accomplishments: Artist. He says that he’s got around seven songs on the way that all (or mostly) have to do with some real-life messaging. It’s unclear whether they’ll all go together as an album, or just singles dropped here and there, but all seven tracks are supposed to become available over the next couple of months.

The first one is coming tonight:

“TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, ‘Dookie’ will be available on Spotify. For the last 20 years of my life, I’ve been writing verses, choruses, and songs in my notes section. The journey into music has been an incredible process and I think there’s some BANGERS coming.”

I honestly don’t know what to expect. With Pat McAfee at the helm, it could be anything. But with Ernest putting his midas touch on the project (and even associating himself with it in the first place), dare I say the song from Pat could be good?

Guess we’ll get a good idea when “Dookie” drops tonight at midnight.The post Pat McAfee Says Ernest Has Helped Him Record 7 Songs, With The First Titled “Dookie” Dropping Tonight first appeared on Whiskey Riff.