Vincent Mason turned heartbreak into a viral song and now it’s everywhere

As he prepares for a year that includes a tour with one of Nashville’s biggest stars, Vincent Mason is ready to establish himself as an expert craftsman of what he describes as “casual love songs.”

Mason, who celebrated his 25th birthday last Monday, explores the depths of his past on “There I Go,” his fascinating debut album. But the Georgia-born musician is also eager to leave his past behind and embrace the moment, and for good reason: His rich, soulful voice has already endeared him to dozens of country fans, both young and old.

“Every country song seems to say: You meet a girl at the bar and then you marry her. How many times can you marry the girl you met at the bar?” Mason joked to News in an interview. “My songs are like, ‘Hey, I met you at the bar and I’m leaving tonight.’ I’ve leveled off a lot with the sadness, but now I’m very happy on my own. In my experience, positive emotions are a little harder to put into words, [but] “There is a lot of optimism.”

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“There I Go,” released Nov. 7, gets off to an upbeat start with the title track, which positions Mason as his generation’s answer to Brad Paisley or Travis Tritt. However, his strengths as a singer-songwriter become even more evident on songs like “Damned If I Do,” “Sit With It,” “Painkiller,” and “Hell is a Dance Floor,” each of which also reflects his love of rock musicians like John Mayer and Tom Petty.

“A lot of alternative rock bands that came out in the early 2000s would now be considered country bands, so that’s what we wanted to incorporate into the album,” Mason said. “My producer, Jake Gear, inspired me to do stuff like that. We were saying to the band, ‘What if The Wallflowers wrote a country song?’ We had a lot of fun finding timeless sounds. “I want all my music to be like that.”

Despite Mason’s variety of influences, he did not initially set out to become a professional musician. Although he dabbled in singing in high school, he had his sights set on being a sports or entertainment lawyer when he enrolled at the University of Mississippi.

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But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, throwing his college career into uncertainty and prompting him to start playing music. After writing only five original songs, he moved to Nashville.

“Looking back now, it seems crazy, [but] I think COVID lent itself to resetting your life,” he recalled. “I’m quite spiritual and I felt a drive beyond myself to do it. “I love working hard and I felt like that was just what I was supposed to do.”

Mason dropped her debut EP, “A Little Too Good,” in 2023. But it was her 2024 breakthrough, “Hell is a Dance Floor,” that made Nashville take notice when it became a viral hit. Her melancholic ballad, “Heart Like This,” soon caught the attention of Mayer, who praised it as “songwriting 101” while featuring it on his SiriusXM channel that same year.

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The release of “There I Go” seems destined to further expand Mason’s fan base. This summer, she joined musicians Jordan Davis and Parker McCollum on tour, and last month she made her first appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” where she performed “Hell is a Dance Floor.”

In January, he’ll embark on a 25-city headlining tour across the U.S. and Canada, playing to his largest audience to date with a five-night opening slot on country superstar Morgan Wallen’s stadium tour next spring.

It remains to be seen if one of Mason’s new songs will repeat the success of “Hell is a Dance Floor.” However, he is less interested in reaching such heights and points to McCollum as an artist whose career he would like to emulate.

“He’s been an inspiration to me in songwriting and ultimately I want to end up like him and build what he’s built with his family and his fans,” he said. “Just having a good heart will keep you in business longer than anything else.”

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