Mason Via grew up on either side of the North Carolina / Virginia state line, splitting time between his mom and dad's homes.
"Born and bred in the Blue Ridge Mountains, baby," he said in an interview with IPR.
Bluegrass and country music was part of how he grew up, partly because of where he lived but also because his dad was an award-winning bluegrass songwriter who would take him to festivals.
Our conversation with Mason Via is part of the Up North Lowdown, a daily nine-minute podcast full of stories and interviews from northern Michigan. Check it out, listen and subscribe!
"I kind of wanted to rebel against that," he said. "I kind of wanted to get into rap music and pop, or whatever the kids were dancing to at the middle school dance. But then as I got older, I realized, this is my culture, man. I grew up in this. Just one of those full-circle things."
It worked out just fine. Before going solo, he spent a few years as a member of the famed "Old Crow Medicine Show" string band, and shared in a 2024 Grammy nomination for their album "Jubilee."
"I loved playing with those guys, but it kind of felt like there were some limitations on ... where I wanted to go with things, my creativity," Via said. "That's why I wanted to ... try out my own solo career while I'm still in my 20s."
His song "Running With You" went No. 1 on the Bluegrass charts.
"We think that chasing the dream is everything, sometimes," he said. "Say you do get there, but who's going to be there with you when you do? Sometimes the thing that's most important is the thing you've had right beside you."
Mason Via plays at the Garden Theater in Frankfort at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at Blissfest on Saturday afternoon.
