Mason Via: Calling the Shots

Mason Via

It’s an exciting summer for Mason Via. After three years with Old Crow Medicine Show, he’s married, he’s moved, and he’s touring with his own band to support a new album. And this American Idol alum--he made it to the final 24 contestants in 2021--is happy to be back in bluegrass.

“I grew up around fiddles and banjos, and I like hearing the music that I create with fiddles and banjos and mandolins and acoustic instruments,” says Via. “This is who I am and how I think of music.”

The new self-titled album reflects his love for the music he grew up with. The energy and expertise of the musicians were such that several songs were recorded on the first take. “That was (producer) Aaron Ramsey's whole style of doing it,” Via explains. “He was like, ‘If you do three takes and you don't get it, you ain't gonna get it.’

“Ronnie Bowman, Junior Sisk, and Rhonda Vincent all sang on the album, and I'm super excited for people to hear that,” Via continues. “Ronnie is on two songs. He and Junior sing on this song, ‘Oh Lordy Me,’ which just sounds like it's going to be a jam hit eventually. It’s got a real easy chorus to sing along to. It's just about growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And then the other one, Ronnie and Rhonda are singing this trio with me on. It's called ‘Mountain Lullaby,’ and it just sounds so classic. And me and Rhonda and Ronnie, that blend was like money, you know? So, I can’t wait for people to hear it.”

Via’s got the credentials to write songs about growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“I've spent most of my time riding that state line between Patrick County, Va., and Stokes County, N.C.,” he says. His father, David, a noted singer/songwriter and bluegrass and folk musician, was his first musical influence and took him to festivals and fiddling contests at an early age. And the fiddle is one of the first instruments Mason took up. “The only tune that I really knew was something called ‘Mule on the Tracks.’ Maybe that's just what Dad called it because it was basically just me making the worst noise ever, you know.”

Though he was always surrounded by all kinds of music, especially bluegrass, his experiences in a local drama troupe led him to consider becoming an entertainer.

“That was kind of my first window into performance,” he explains. “But by the time high school hit, I started to realize that it’s a lot of sitting around and you're not getting paid. And it's a lot more fun to just hang out with your buddies and play music, and then you're the star all the time or whatever. And that's what I liked. And then you get paid sometimes, too.”

Amid the Covid pandemic, Via was selected to participate in the American Idol competition. The necessary Covid protocols complicated the program's high-stakes, high-pressure nature. But Via believes it served as a boot camp to prepare him for the next big opportunity that almost immediately came his way: touring as an Old Crow Medicine Show member.

“It helped me to go into that audition with them to feel at ease. I wasn't as nervous because I had just dealt with something that was very anxiety-inducing-- playing in front of all those people, famous movie stars and stuff like that.”

After his successful audition, Via began a three-year apprenticeship with one of the biggest bands in Americana and acoustic music. He’d only toured close to home before boarding the OCMS bus. Now, he was in a group that headlined shows at large venues and toured for days on end. Their exuberance and openness inspired Via.

“What I loved about them was there was never this kind of ‘bluegrass’ sense of, ‘No, that's not the way you do it,’ or ‘That isn't good enough' kind of thing. And it was honestly a great space to have as a learning ground. Another thing I learned about them musically is that you don't have to be the most virtuosic musician in the world to play something that has meaning and brings a lot of joy to everybody. And then on top of that, sometimes some of that fancy stuff is worse.”

Now Via’s going alone with his own band on a summer tour that includes playing RockyGrass, one of the nation's leading festivals. Though the learning curve is steep, he’s excited to be back in bluegrass and calling the shots.

“The biggest part of that kind of thing is just making sure everybody has enough money, and they're okay with traveling across the country and sleeping in like a Motel Six or whatever because that's the hard truth of some of it. You know, we're sleeping on somebody's floor. But, that's kind of the dream of having a band of brothers like that.”