From Yodeling in Walmart to Singing With Lana Del Rey, Country Crooner Mason Ramsey Is All Grown Up

Mason Ramsey doesn’t really listen to the radio.

The young crooner with an old soul isn’t into the latest pop-country trends that most of his peers get behind. “If you listen to it, all the songs just kind of sound the same,” he says.

Instead, the eighteen-year-old still prefers the likes of legends Hank Williams and Waylon Jennings, or Southern rock gods Lynyrd Skynyrd and Creedence Clearwater Revival, to inspire his own tunes. It’s a style he calls “old country,” which includes a dash of doo-wop R&B.

Ramsey brought his creative vision to life in last year’s full-length debut, I’ll See You In My Dreams. The album, which follows four EPs and a slew of singles since 2018, is his most mature-sounding release to date. Naturally, he’s grown into his deepening voice, but such songs as “Blue Over You” and “Something You Can Hold” showcase his contemporary take on timeless genres. His latest single, “Live Lonely,” which dropped in February and featues former American Idol contestant Harper Grace, falls in line with that approach, too.

Whether he’s singing about love on the rocks or growing up on the road, his velvety vocals, shaped by his past as an ace yodeler, convey a certain amount of confidence. Ramsey says that he aimed to “establish a new direction” with I’ll See You In My Dreams. “I was just trying to come up with a new style of music and new sound. I’ve been trying out a couple of different things,” he says, adding that having a new band behind him helped spark more pocket-driven song structures. “I find sometimes you have to go back to the roots of country music in order to re-establish it again.

“But I will say, I’m in my indecisive phase. I can’t make up my mind on what I want to do,” Ramsey continues. “That’s not something that I’m going to hide, because it happens. There’s a lot of other kids who are my age that go through the same thing.”

Teenage years are a time of self-discovery and testing the waters of different interests, but Ramsey’s adolescence was anything but typical. Most people were introduced to Ramsey via a 2018 viral video of the then-eleven-year-old yodeling the Hank Williams classic “Lovesick Blues” in a Walmart store.
While the exposure afforded him many opportunities, including a record deal followed by his first official release (Famous EP), he’s “personally moved past” that time. But he does credit those early years for helping him learn the ins and outs of the music business and what he wants to do now that he’s more established. And it doesn’t necessarily require major radio play, he’s found.

“I’m not someone who tries to chase radio. I’m someone who really cares about the music and the quality. I want to make sure fans are getting good music, and I will do whatever it takes for that to happen,” he explains. “It wouldn’t have hurt to have it, but I’ve done fine without it. I’ve just been doing my thing, and whatever happens, happens. I just give it to God and he does whatever he wants with it.”

Ramsey — who will be in Denver on Friday, May 2, at Grizzly Rose — is doing more than fine. He's performed at the Grand Ole Opry and Coachella, and was featured on Lil Nas X’s third “Old Town Road” remix alongside Billy Ray Cyrus and Young Thug before he even finished middle school.

“I’ve had a lot of great things happen to me. I’ve been to a lot of really cool places and met a lot of cool people,” he says, understating his badassery.

One of the coolest things he’s done so far came last summer, when Lana Del Rey — a fan of Ramsey — asked him to join her on stage during her concert at Boston’s Fenway Park. The two shared a duet of “Blue Over You.” Yeah, he had some butterflies during rehearsal the day before the big show.

“Just being in the same room with her and talking was really cool. She was super relaxed,” he recalls. “I got a little nervous, I’m not going to lie. I ended up spilling my tea all over the stage. Then I left my phone there.”

Ramsey, who previously held a part-time job at a hometown Subway, blushes a little while recounting the experience, a bashful display of his age. It’s easy to forget he’s only eighteen; he has a good sense of what he wants to do when he grows up.

“I think I’ve found the direction that I want to go, and I don’t think that it’s going to change this time. I think I’ve finally figured it out,” Ramsey concludes. “The thing is, you got to find music that makes you happy and means something to you. Something that you can feel, because if you don’t feel it, then it’s not cool to you.”

Mason Ramsey, 6 p.m. Friday, May 2, Grizzly Rose, 5450 North Valley Highway. Tickets are $20-$25.