Who Is Vincent Mason? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

Today our spotlight shines on an artist that is truly made for this industry. Vincent Mason grew up loving sports; however, when he realized his knack for music, everything changed. Learn more about his story here.

“I grew up right outside of Atlanta and I wasn’t doing music much. I was really playing football and basketball, but I liked it a lot,” he began. “When I was a kid, I would always kind of be singing, but I never thought it was anything like that, and then I didn’t get a guitar until my sophomore year of high school. I didn’t start playing and singing until senior year.”

A music fan at first, Mason found himself listening to a variety of music during his upbringing. “I was listening to a lot of genres. I didn’t really listen to country music until 8th grade or freshman year, but my dad loved whatever was new, so whatever the hit was with pop music, was what I was listening to. Around 5th or 6th grade, I started listening to rap, too” he shared. “Then in 8th grade/freshman year, when country radio kind of had a new moment with Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line, those guys, I definitely had an ear for country hits.” He also shared that he became a huge fan of John Mayer later on in high school. Mayer is an artist that continues to be a huge inspiration to him.

After high school, Mason left home to attend school at Ole Miss, where on a whim, he decided to bring his guitar with him. A few months later, he found himself dabbling with writing songs. “Around Christmas break at Ole Miss I had written my first song and that was about two years ago, so ever since I wrote the first one I knew that was what I wanted to do, but I was kind of late to it. It wasn’t really a childhood kind of thing for me.”

 

The Turning Point:

Mason returned to college for his second semester, only to get sent home in March due to the looming pandemic. While home, the singer-songwriter began to hone his craft at country songwriting, drawing inspiration from artists like Mayer and Parker McCollum.

“I was listening to country hits and John Mayer, leading up to the first song that’s really always been the balance of what I’m doing in my songwriting. Parker McCollum’s doing a really good job […] As soon as I heard him, I thought I could write a song,” he shared, adding, “The balance [McCollum] struck is kind of what I’m after.” This enticed Mason to write songs that had vibes similar to Mayer, but with a country flair.

With just a few weeks before he was slated to go back to school, Mason took a leap of faith. “I kept writing through that summer (2020), and I remember coming down one day, 2 or 3 weeks before I was supposed to go back to Ole Miss, and I told my parents I’ve been writing songs and I really just think I need to go to Nashville.”

Mason added, “I immediately tried to backtrack and my mom was like ‘no you said it and you meant it, so we’ll figure out a way to get you there.’” Shortly thereafter, the singer was armed with a dream and a spot at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

Today:

Flash forward to today, Mason has a handful of songs already out, with many more coming down the pipeline and an EP in the works. Most recently, the singer released a song called, ” A Little Too Good.” Interestingly, Mason wrote the song as an assignment for his songwriting class.

“That was the first song I wrote when I moved here,” he began. “It was September or October of 2020, and I was in a songwriting class at Lipscomb, and the assignment was to take 2 songs and elements from 2 different songs and make something new out of it.” Drawing inspiration from unreleased songs at the time by Morgan Wallen and Parker McCollum, “A Little Too Good” was created.

“I thought it was a cool way to kind of get at something going wrong […] It felt like an interesting way to say something was going wrong to start out by saying it was too good. That was the first time I had to finish something on a deadline, so I sat up all night trying to finish it for class the next day.”

“A Little Too Good” is a song that perfectly describes Mason’s artistry. It also gives fans a window into what the upcoming EP, slated for an April release will entail. According to the singer, “I will be releasing hopefully as much music as we can get out.” Keep your eyes and ears peeled!

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