Nashville-based country artist and songwriter, Vincent Mason, stands out with his smooth vocals amidst a hotbed of new country artists recently going viral. His latest track, "Livin’ Proof," is well, just that. Beyond music,  Mason is gifted at world-building, with captivating visuals for each track. His recent video for “Hell is a Dancefloor,” is a prime example.  Despite all of this, Mason remains focused on one goal – leaving a lasting impact. Discover more about Vincent Mason below.

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Congratulations on all the recent success, man.  It is really cool to watch and you're absolutely killing it. You just released “Livin’ Proof.” Take me through that track and the story behind it.

I wrote that hook by myself two years ago. I then took it in to co-write with Forrest Finn and Joe Whelan and we finished it. It then just sat for a really long time. We were cutting a batch of songs, and it felt like the right time to put it out. It still feels like a really good song which is a good sign. We tweaked some lines and added little sections at the end. It feels new even though it is old. 

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What is your songwriting process? I feel like your songwriting is elite.

I moved to Nashville in the middle of COVID, so I didn’t know anybody or anything about the city and how co-writing worked here. I would just sit around and strum and hum. I believe that is what Chris Stapleton called it – a lot of strumming and humming. I am also a huge John Mayer fan, and I saw a YouTube video of him when I was first trying to write songs. He was saying to just sing whatever you can. Try to sing words as fast as possible even if they don’t make sense. I still do that. I then pick something that I feel works and go backward from there. I am big on reverse engineering and finding some piece of the song and making everything fit around that thing. There are a lot of different ways to write a song, and I guess I am still trying to figure it out.

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I love that you mention John Mayer because I feel like he wrote his songs to perform. How would you say tour changed or altered the way you make music?

We did 20 shows with Ashley Cooke and that was all acoustic. Acoustic is a really good way to tell if you like what you’re singing. You find out really quickly if that song is for you or not by singing it every night. So I think it was just finding the songs that I did not have and what I wished I could sing in those sets. I went back and wrote some new songs and I felt like they are my favorites and a lot more dialed in. When I first started writing songs, I didn’t know anything about anything. I didn’t know I would go to play shows. I think it is one thing to write a song while sitting around and I think it’s another thing to write it for a show. I think if it works for both, those are the best songs. 

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What was it like going on tour like with Ashley?

It was awesome. Her whole team is just amazing. My tour manager – Kyle – and I fit right in with her crew. We felt like we weren’t going to every stop touring with them, it was so fun. It was seamless and a family vibe. The shows were great, and her crowds were awesome and open to new music. I would do 20 more shows on that tour if I could. That was the most shows I have ever done in my life. Getting to meet people after the shows and get that one-on-one connection with people was amazing. I saw the difference in my socials too. It is really cool to connect with people that way because sometimes it is easy to just look at numbers such as streams and Tik Tok, but you forget that those people are real. It is cool to meet them and have conversations with them.

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How excited are you for tour with Gavin Adcock? 

I am really excited. We did one show with him right before the Ashley tour last fall. His set is just insane. There is so much energy. I have no doubt it will turn into something huge. It is cool to go to these kinds of venues that are smaller rooms because the energy is insane. I think he is killing it and is the best at marketing. He is so authentic and what he is building is great. So we are excited to see what we can do. Hopefully we can bring something to the show that is cool. 

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Your song “Hell is a Dance Floor” is also a great song for shows and also has gained a lot of traction. What is the story behind that song? 

That was with Chase McDaniel. He is signed to the same publishing company I am with. It was our first time writing, just the two of us. I was writing a ton of songs at that time. He had the title “Hell is a Dancefloor, and I was not trying to overthink anything. I thought it sounded cool, and I had a memory on my mind that worked well with the title. I had tried to write a song like it before, but this one was way better. I had the visual, and I was trying to think about that the whole time we were writing it. I started humming what is now the hook melody and that is how it happened. It was a 50/50 effort between the two of us. We were finishing each other’s lines and got into a quick flow. I think we finished it in like two hours or maybe less. I didn’t have a feeling that it would be anything crazy. I just felt like we were putting out another song. It worked with people and is our best one yet.

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I love artists that are able to build a world around their music. Every time I hear your music, I picture the neon lights at the bar. What inspires those visuals?

We take it song by song. I think we have done a good job of that – making sure everything makes sense for each song. A lot of it is like what you said – world building. I love the older bar with neon lights and heartbreak. We are starting to put together a project that walks through all stages of life. Whether it is heartbreak at the bar or a good time at the bar, or even if it is just deeper conversations with friends. We want to capture all kinds of different scenes from life. 

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What do you want your fans to grasp from this next project and your music in general?

I want them to have songs that feel like different walks of life. I want them to feel like they have a song for each thing that happens. I feel like I live a very normal life. I don’t do anything that is out of the ordinary so capturing that stuff is important. I want people to feel like their life is important. 

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Where do you see yourself taking music in the coming years? 

I think it is to take it as big as it can go and staying true to what I want to do. I think that is the only way to get big. I think if you are faking it, people will eventually see it. If it is amphitheaters or stadiums, or even if it stops where it is, I am fine. I want to have a career that is memorable. I want to build something that is worth something. For me, making it was just playing like 500 cap rooms, and I am doing it. 

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What do you want your legacy to be?

I want to be a songwriter above all else. I want people to connect with that forever. I want people to have an experience there. I want the music and songwriting to live on in a way that is similar to the people I look up to. I want people to grab onto something for their whole life. I want people to find it in 50 years and for it to be timeless.