By Laura Duncan
Mason Ramsey visited Athens, GA and played at the Georgia Theatre on Sept. 21 2024. Before his show, he spent some time talking with Laura Duncan, a third year advertising and psychology major, discussing his roots, career and newest record.
Q: As a young artist in the business, what have been your favorite ways to stay grounded while being on tour and promoting your upcoming album?
So what I normally do is I’ll go home and take some time to relax and just take in what it’s like to be in a small town again. I really feel like that helps me stay focused and grounded. And obviously, you know, going back really helps me remember where I came from as well and also I feel like that’s led to a big part of my success.
Q: Seeing that you have such a passion for classic country, what do you think makes it so unique? Why do you think it’s having a comeback and what makes you so excited about it?
I think the reason it’s coming back is, I really just feel like some of the people listening to music, especially country music, are just really wanting like that more classical sound. And I feel like they’ve asked for it for a good little while. I feel like some people, the younger generations especially, have heard what’s been going on the radio for, I don’t know, the past 10 years or so, and they’ve kind of just wanted to shift and change.
I mean, I was raised by an older generation, my grandparents, and I was raised in a different style of music and just lifestyle, but I kind of have always been old school. I’ve been raised in that style of music for so long, and it’s just who I am, and I’m just bringing that to my newer stuff that I’m doing. It’s in my album, which is coming out I believe in two days.
Q: You brought up your upcoming album, what kinds of emotions and meanings are there for you in it?
Every song on the album has kind of its own meaning, you know, like, I wrote the song based on life experiences that I was going through at the time. There’s a couple of songs where they just kind of wrote themselves. “The Woman from Havana,” which is on the album, kind of just wrote itself. You know, my producer, he had some family that lived in Cuba. He was telling me a story about one of the guitars that his dad gave him when he was little and he was just kind of playing around on it. He came up with this, like, little lick on guitar and was like, “Let’s just write a song about this woman from Havana.” We’re like, all right, let’s do it, and we did. We wrote the song, and it’s one of my favorites on the album.
But, like, “Blue Over You,” it’s like message. I was going through something whenever I wrote that song, and I had feelings for this girl, and she, she didn’t feel the same. It was kind of hard on me. And, you know, about sometime later, I went to the studio with my producer, and I really, I kind of had a concept of what I wanted to write, and I gave him what I had, and he put some music to it, and it became a song.
Q: How do you think that the album and writing process has changed for you, going from writing and performing an EP to a debut album where you’re headlining a tour?
It is definitely different, you know, going from writing to performing. It’s like a different cycle. You have to go from writing to, you know, singing in the studio to going to, like, interviews to promote your album and then your tour. I really like it. I love what I do. I think it’s fun, and I have so much fun doing it.
Q: What has it been like for you to have opportunities to collab with people that you’ve idolized for so long?
Just the feeling that I get to share the stage with someone else is just — it means so much to me, even if, you know, the person doesn’t realize it. Anything that I can get, I’m so grateful for. The fact that Lana [Del Rey] reached out to me and asked me to sing one of my own songs on a stage that she was headlining, it meant a lot to me, and I’m just, I’m so grateful for that moment.
Comments trimmed for length and clarity
Leave a Reply