By Ashton York

You may know Mason Ramsey as the 11-year-old “Walmart yodeling kid” meme that became popular in 2018. His rendition of “Lovesick Blues” by Hank Williams in the middle of the superstore was what initially threw Ramsey’s name into the public eye, and his passion for what he calls “gentleman’s country” has only continued to grow since the video went viral.

On Oct. 27 at 8 p.m., Ramsey will continue his “Falls Into Place Tour” at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. The show follows the release of his first full-length album, “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” which came out Sept. 13.

“Me and my band guys, we’re super excited to be back out on the road, singing the new songs that are on the album,” Ramsey said. “We’ve had some really good shows so far, and we’re, overall, super happy and excited where we’re at.”

Ramsey said fans can expect to see a lot of his older songs at the show, along with some from the new album. He said he and the band bring a strong energy to the stage, and no one will be expecting what happens at the show.

“Even though there have been little clips of me on the internet so far,” Ramsey said, “you have to actually go see it to experience it for yourself.”

While on tour, Ramsey spends his time creating new songs between shows. He said he uses his various locations as inspiration to write about new sights and experiences. 

After he writes the lyrics of a song, Ramsey then brings it to his producer to add music to the track and kick off the official songwriting process.

“It’s like you have the starting pieces of the puzzle, you just need to put the other pieces together,” he said. “It’s not hard as long as you don’t overthink.”

Many of the tracks on “I’ll See You In My Dreams” are slow and romantic, as Ramsey takes heavy inspiration from artists such as Elvis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.

Ramsey credits Hank Williams for the primary influence on his music, and he said he will not forget how Williams’ song is what got him started. Ramsey said he aspires to create the same simple yet beautiful genre of country.

Aside from other artists, there were several different people who inspired songs on the new album, including Ramsey’s family members and a few different girls he has known over the past few years.

“Family is a big part of why I’m where I’m at today,” Ramsey said. “I wanted to write a song about my uncle, and just to my overall family, because over time, family changes whether they move on and go somewhere else or they pass away. ‘Family Pictures’ kind of talks about that.”

Ramsey said his current favorite tracks from the album are “All The Way To Memphis” and “Blue Over You” because they are about specific people in his life. He described the sound of his music as American country soul.

In preparation for the rest of the tour, Ramsey’s traveling band has to learn the new songs since he used a separate band in the recording studio. His team plans everything ahead of the tour, booking hotels when needed and scheduling soundchecks. Most of the time, Ramsey and his entire crew use a tour bus as opposed to hotels, and they have done that for the “Falls Into Place Tour.”

“It’s been a pretty wild ride since the whole tour’s kicked up and everything,” Ramsey said. “I’m kind of just waiting to see what happens next.”

Ramsey said his dream and life goal is to travel the world and have stadium tours. He said he hopes to become one of the largest country artists and use that platform to help other artists have their work noticed.

Ramsey experienced the other side of such platform when Lana Del Rey welcomed him onto the stage at Fenway Park to sing a duet of “Blue Over You.” It was the first time he was able to perform one of his own songs on such a large stage, as the capacity of the venue is around 38,000 people.

Singing on the big stage was one step closer to Ramsey fulfilling his dream of becoming a popular country singer, one he has had since he was 3 years old. Now, as a 17-year-old, Ramsey said he feels it has always been his passion in life. He was always determined to be a performer, even if that meant doing small local shows in his hometown.

“I was just always happy singing and making other people happy,” he said. “Anything can happen at any time. You just have to be motivated and inspired to do what you do, and I want people to see that. I want people to believe in themselves as I believed in myself.”

Ramsey said no matter what new and exciting adventures showed up in his life after his Walmart video went viral, he feels as though he has remained the same person he has always been. He never expected to appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” or at the Grand Ole Opry, and his mindset remained the same throughout. He still wanted to bring people joy through music.

“I was just (at that Walmart) the other day before I started my tour,” Ramsey said. “I went back, and it’s still the same as it was.”

Ramsey said he has never visited Northwest Arkansas, but he is excited to check out the area during the fall. Fall tours are his favorite because they come along with pumpkin spice foods and sweater weather.

“I’m just so grateful that I got to have my first album put out, and we’re super excited to be on this tour and with Halle Kearns opening for me,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got a lot of great things planned.”