Mason Ramsey Talks Getting His Yodel Back, 'Emotional' Comeback Single 'Reasons to Come Home' (Exclusive)

After going viral in 2018 and taking some time away from Nashville in recent years, the teenage country star is back with an ode to those who raised him

There's usually something that connect us to our hometowns after we move on. But even at 16, Mason Ramsey knows that some connections back home can't last forever.

The teenage country star, who got his start with a certain viral Walmart performance back in 2018, knows his main reason to visit Golconda, Illinois isn't permanent. So for his first new song in four years, "Reasons to Come Home," Ramsey made sure to toast the man and woman who raised him since he was 3 weeks old: His grandparents.

"I played them the song whenever it first got done," Ramsey tells PEOPLE of his first new music since becoming a teenager. "They were very sad and really liked the song because it was about them, my hometown, and talks about when they’re gone that I won’t really have a reason to come home because they’re the main reason. They did cry. It was very emotional."

"... It’s really emotional, you almost have to listen to the song to get an idea of what to think about it," he says. "Just appreciate your family while you still have them."

Four years after the release of his hit EP Twang and a playful feature on the Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" remix — and five years after he yodeled his way into the hearts of internet users with an iconic Hank Williams cover — the viral sensation has sharpened his chops and returned with a deeper voice and some deeper lyrics on "Reasons to Come Home."

Related: Yodeling Boy Just Released His Debut Single 'Famous' — Hear it Now

After his initial brush with viral fame (the "Walmart Yodel Kid" performance of "Lovesick Blues" has since accumulated 85 million YouTube views), things moved fast for 'Lil Hank Williams. He appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show, met up with a couple international pop stars, and even hit the Grammys stage back in 2019 with Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus and BTS.

"After I’d done the Walmart thing, I’ve had people give me some advice to stay humble and always keep the ones that have got me started — in my mind — always be thankful to them," he recalls.

"My grandparents, obviously, had a big [contribution] to my success in the early days. And if it hadn’t have been for them taking me to Walmart to do that one performance, who knows what would’ve happened."

Thanks to his grandparents' contributions, Ramsey was able to sign with Atlantic Records, release a second EP in 2019 after sharing singles like "Famous," and see a bit of the world. Like most, however, the pandemic inspired him to take a break from Nashville and spend time back home in Illinois.

He worked at a restaurant, did some driving, and even documented much of his journey on TikTok for fans later on. "They thought that it was good to spend more time with family and not be so much in Nashville. They like for me to stay with them," Ramsey says of his relatives. "My grandparents are basically my family. Really, we couldn’t do much because of COVID but I would practice my guitar and get a few video games in."

During his time away from public life, Ramsey didn't just play Forza and Call of Duty, he also wrote some new music and sharpened his songwriting skills. His voice has changed, too, and at one point he even lost that signature yodel that snowballed into a music career.

But no need to worry, Ramsey insists he got his yodel back. "Believe it or not, I was at the lake, and I go there for about a month every year every summer. It was toward the very end and I had just gotten sick. I just started singing 'Lovesick Blues' because I’d been trying to get this yodel back for a little bit. I just started singing and the first yodel I hit, I got it. It was unbelievable."

And even with no new music having been released until this Friday, Ramsey continued to find viral successes on TikTok, partially thanks to the resurgence of his 2019 track "Before I Knew It" — which has since been used to soundtrack over 400,000 clips on the platform.

"I will say 'Before I Knew It' kind of took us by storm. Everyone kept telling me that they loved my new song. I kept saying, ‘What new song?’ Because we didn’t have anything out. And they kept saying, ‘Well we love your new song, the song ‘Before I Knew It.’ I was like, ‘Uh, that song came out a couple of years ago. It’s not really new.’ Who knows," Ramsey says. "We may end up re-covering that in the future and doing a new version of it."

"... Just the younger, very high-pitched version of me singing those songs. It’s definitely interesting now that I think about it with my lower voice, it sounds pretty good."

Ramsey has certainly grown into his new sound, but admits that he was "nervous-excited" about debuting the deeper vocals on "Reasons to Come Home," which he wrote back in 2022 alongside Rob Pennington and Jeff Middleton, with producer Aaron Eshuis.

A video for the new song sees Ramsey walk through his hometown and spend time with those who raised him. "Going back, looking at the town, really taking it all in," Ramsey says of what it felt like to film the visual. "Even though I’ve been up and down that main street a million times in my life. Me and Grandma, we go up and over by the river there on the bank, we just drive through town. I hear the stories of, ‘This used to be a grocery store, a gas station.’ But really just taking it all in, looking at it with closer details."

And there's plenty of details coming up that Ramsey looks forward to in his year to come, and some he can't reveal much about just yet — from the teased possibility of a documentary, a potential new EP, and some shows on the road, including a July 1 homecoming at Golconda's Pope County Courthouse Square.

"It’s definitely the new me," Ramsey says of the new sound. "‘Reasons to Come Home’ is obviously going to be the biggest song of the EP. But these other songs, they’re just different. They’re not like the Twang EP. This is what Mason Ramsey is. These songs really describe me as a person and what I like to write about and sing about."

"Reasons to Come Home" is out now via Atlantic Records.

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