Interview: Nashville-based singer-songwriter Leah Marie Mason has released her debut EP ‘Honeydew & Hennessy.’ Showcasing her versatile artistry and cross-genre appeal, her powerful vocals throughout the project are ethereal and romantic while the songwriting is raw and honest. Highlighting themes of self-reflection, picturesque love stories, heart-wrenching breakups and more, the rising songstress has arrived and is welcoming her already growing fanbase even deeper into her world. We were thrilled to talk to her all about it.
It’s lovely to speak to you today, Leah, thank you for your time. We’re loving ‘Honeydew & Hennessy’. As soon as you’d written that song was that always going to be the title of the EP or did you play around with other names?
Thank you for speaking to me too! I did have other thoughts throughout the entirety of the project but I kept coming back to ‘Honeydew & Hennessy’ because it felt different and a great representation of me and my music. I also love a bit of alliteration too! (laughing)
Have you been pleased with the reaction to the EP so far?
Yeah! It’s been wild. I wasn’t expecting so much complimentary feedback so it’s been amazing to see people loving this project.
Is there a song that seems to be resonating with people more than others or is it the EP as a whole?
The reaction to the whole thing has been amazing but people do love ‘Holy Water’! (laughing) That seems to be the favourite and the one that people are connecting with, with is great, because it was a favourite of mine to write.
You seemed to have a really musical upbringing – playing in cover bands with your brother when you were a young teenager. When did you first realise you wanted to do music as a professional career?
Honestly, I think I knew from a really young age that I needed to be involved in music in some capacity. It gave me a feeling that nothing else could give me. I still don’t know how to fully describe that feeling now, it just feels like it’s innate and natural to me, like it’s what I’m supposed to be doing.
I started performing at 10 years old and it just felt like what I was supposed to be doing, right from then.
Is your brother still involved in music or did his life go a different path?
Yeah, he’s still involved. Not as much as I am but he’s done some cool things. He went off into Hip Hop – he’s got an Anderson Paak credit and he’s worked with 9th Wonder who’s a big producer. It’s a totally different world to me. I love him so much but we wouldn’t be able to write together! (laughing) He’ll play guitar for me sometimes when I play live but we are creativity so different, which is awesome.
You attended the famous Berklee School of Music in Boston for a year before you switched to Belmont University in Nashville. Was it stressful getting into such a prestigious college?
I really loved Berklee. The school and my teachers were incredible but I wanted to live in a city that was much more connected to the music industry. Boston, in and of itself, is essentially it so a lot of Berklee students would be travelling back and forth to New York to write and play shows but I wanted to live somewhere where you could make connections whilst in school and where music was a bigger part of the city’s existence.
Belmont was the right choice for me. I met so many people in and outside of the school in Nashville.
Is it competitive at Belmont knowing that most students are there to probably try and forge a career in Country music?
Absolutely it was competitive but any career is competitive. You have to really want something to succeed. The music industry is especially competitive and success can be a little like the lottery at times (laughing) – even if you get a degree from Belmont it doesn’t mean that you are going to go on and have a successful career.
It can be intimidating once you see how many talented people there are in Nashville and at Belmont. And this is just Nashville, right? There’s the whole rest of the world to take into account too. That’s a scary thought if you let it sit! (laughing) It can be motivating too and it makes you better to be around people who are better than you.
You mentioned the lottery. Was that what happened when your song ‘Far Boy’ exploded on TikTok? A kind of lottery win?
Oh absolutely. TikTok is like a huge lottery in terms of what works and what doesn’t. Luck and timing play as much of a part as good content. I think I had about 20 followers when ‘Far Boy’ came out and then there was 430,000! (laughing)
I feel like I used to have a grasp of what works on TikTok and what doesn’t but it’s always changing. I think there’s over a billion users now so I’m not sure if anyone really knows how to work the algorithm! Good content is the first starting place and then you have to go from there and hope that some things take off.
A lot of states and universities are starting to restrict usage over here in the USA. It’s kinda crazy to think we could be moving into a space and a time where we might lose the whole platform! It’s done is much for my career so far. Instagram tries to mimic TikTok with reels but there’s nothing else like it out there right now.
Let’s dig into the EP, if you will. The lyrical bite you have is really sharp and you have a cinematic way of painting pictures in people’s minds too. It reminds me of the first two Kacey Musgraves albums. Was she an influence of you at all?
Oh, yes. She’s one of my biggest influences. I love ‘Same Trailer Different Park’ although I also love ‘Golden Hour’ too. There’s a lot of visuals in her music that have an effect on me. I do like to put you in a place with each song I write. I wanted the EP to feel like you were going on a journey somewhere else.
The EP has a very ephemeral, dreamy feel in places. What other artists, even outside the Country realm, have had an influence on you?
I love Lana Del Rey, she’s such an inspiration to me. Gracie Abrams is such a great, ethereal songwriter too. Phoebe Bridgers work is fantastic too, she’s incredible. A lot of indie artists are an inspiration to me and I’m definitely a ‘lyric-heavy’ person too. I love to mix indie with mainstream music.
Do you take inspiration from books and films when writing or are you mainly taking inspiration from you and your friends lives and stories?
I mostly write about personal experience, you, know, things that I have been through. I do love books and films and anything that’s visually creative but pretty much everything I write about is personal to me.
In that case tell me about your song ‘Trust Fund Cowboys’. Do you see a lot of those in Nashville?
(laughing) Nashville is full of them! (laughing) It’s so cringey and weird to see people acting in a way that they just aren’t, to pretend to be something they aren’t. It’s almost like fancy dress. I went into a writing session one day after having gone out the night before and having seen so many guys like that so the song came out quite quickly that day! (laughing) They give off this kind of ‘Los Angeles cowboy’ type of vibe and you can spot them a mile away. The song is about people pretending to be who they aren’t and if the song offends you then it’s probably about you! (laughing)
You mentioned ‘Holy Water’ which is a real slice of southern gothic. Where did the inspiration for that song come from?
I had a specific experience with someone who kind of put themselves up on a pedestal of righteousness, you know, they told me they were a good person solely based on their religious beliefs but they turned out to be horrible. A pathological liar and a terrible person. Being religious doesn’t make you good. I know a lot of people who are religious who are amazing and I know a lot of people who are religious who aren’t at all. Being religious doesn’t make you a good person or a bad person but some people claim it does.
The video looked like a lot of fun to film?
It was freezing! (laughing) I think it might have even been snowing that day. The chapel we filmed it in didn’t have any window panes so the cold was coming in from everywhere and I was wearing literally nothing! (laughing) I had about five blankets on set and every time we took a break I just dived for the blankets! I loved filming that video and feel passionate about it.
As a Yellowstone TV fan I was immediately drawn to your song ‘Montana Fantasy’ just from the title.
The show, for sure, had an influence on that one. I’ve never been to Montana so it fully is like a fantasy in my head. ‘What if I just moved away and lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere and didn’t have to think about all these things that are effecting me right now, like, how many likes did I get on my last post?’ As an artist these things weigh on you so I have this fantasy about living in the middle of nowhere and leaving the stresses of everyday life behind.
Is the plan to take the EP out on the road for the rest of the year?
Yeah. I’ve got a little baby tour in Atlanta, Charlotte and Chicago, just to celebrate the the EP’s release. I did a show in Nashville too. Just to begin to get my feet wet and then hopefully I could grab an opening slot on someone’s tour playing bigger venues and get my music out there.
Are there any iconic venues that you’d love to play at?
Oh, for sure! In North Carolina, where I’m from, there’s a few Id love to play. If I could sell out the Lincoln Theatre that would be a very full circle moment for me. It would be cool to play the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The Opry is definitely on my bucket list too, obviously, that would be a real honour. Hopefully one day.
If you could open for any artist out on an arena tour, who would you love to open for?
Oh my gosh. My top artists would have to be Kacey Musgraves and Taylor Swift, right? C’mon, either would be crazy.
Check out Leah Marie Mason’s fabulous ‘Honeydew & Hennessy’ EP at the link here
