AOTW: Mason Ashley’s Reflection

I vividly remember the day I fell in love with being a musician. I was nine-years-old and had just proudly saved my grandpa’s 50 year old Conn guitar from being literally thrown into the dumpster. I had played piano (in a very little kid way) for a few years and had written a song when I was seven-years-old…it was a very insightful song about being late for school. Holding a guitar was different. I sat in my room all day teaching myself chords and probably driving my family insane. I started writing cheesy songs about friends and boys and it so easily became my passion, my escape, and my first love.

When I was 12, I performed on stage for the first time as the finale to songwriting camp that is put on every summer in my hometown. My family had never even heard me sing any of my songs until I was up there in a leopard print dress with a feather in my hair singing slightly off pitch in front of over 200 people. I remember soaking in the warmth of the lights on the stage and the sound of strangers cheering after my last note. I remember knowing that I wanted to hold that feeling for my entire life.

I started recording demos and released my first EP when I was almost 16. It’s so different to go from only singing in your bedroom to singing over and over into a very high quality microphone until you get a perfect take. For my first EP, we brought in all kinds of musicians and background singers. It was a whole other feeling to watch my song, and then album, come to life in pieces like that. I loved the studio process from the beginning. The first EP was more folk/Americana influenced and after it was released it was played on folk and even country radio stations throughout the country and parts of the world. I’ll never forget hearing my song on the radio for the first time. That moment was one of the biggest milestones for me, especially being only 16.

After the release of the first EP, I was writing non-stop and got back in the studio soon to work on more music. I wrote a song called “Paper Planes” that I think really helped me move over to the indie/alternative style I’m more settled in now. 2016 was a very transitional year… I graduated high school, started traveling to West Virginia to shoot music videos, and LA for collaborations and meetings with industry people. All my friends were getting ready to go off to college and I was writing in my bedroom at all hours of the night and recording myself in my phone voice memos. I was only eighteen but I felt like a confident adult for the first time, and I knew I was growing into who I wanted to be. A huge help was the never ending support of my family, who believed in my dream before I ever did. I kept writing what was on my mind and heart and taking those songs in to my producer, Jeffery Armstreet. I’ve been working with him since I was thirteen and I don’t know anyone else who would put up with my crazy ideas and 3 a.m. song idea texts. He totally understands who I am as an artist and we always stay true to that and the feeling behind my songs and build around that. I’ve always believed that if I stay real and grounded in who I am as a person and an artist that good things will come.

A few years later and now I’m signed to an independent record label in LA, I have over 1.5 million views on my latest music video, and I was even nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award. I’ve released five singles since 2017 and they’re all like honest little parts of me sent out into the world. I’ve learned that you can never really plan where life is going to take you..especially in the music business. One year ago, if someone told me that millions of people all over the world would hear my songs, I would have never believed it. I feel so incredibly nostalgic and grateful at this close of 2018. I’ve heard a lot of “no”s in my life and had a lot of doors close, but now I know that it’s only so the right ones can open. Every time a total stranger reaches out to tell me how much a song meant to them, it just makes me even more sure that music is what I’m supposed to be doing. I love it just as much as I did on the very first day, as just a small, shy girl. I’ll be releasing a brand new single and music video in January and I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store.

Love Mason Ashley’s Reflection and want to know more? Visit her website here.