Little Boy in Cowboy Boots Starts Singing in Aisle at Walmart. Customers Watch with Smiles
Meet Mason “Little Hank” Ramsey, an 11-year-old country singer who is breathing new life into the iconic music of Hank Williams. Young Mason already has quite the following, and a couple viral videos on social media has helped propel Little Hank’s budding career.
Mason, who hails from Golconda, Illinois, has been singing Hank tunes since he can remember, thanks to his upbringing. Mason is being raised by his grandparents, and it was his grandfather, Ernest Ramsey, who first introduced his grandson to the music of Hank Wiliams.
“Grandaddy always had Hank playing out in the garage,” Mason Ramsey told The Southern in a 2017 interview. “I heard it so much I just started singing.”
“It was sorta like jumping in a pool,” Mason said of his natural ability to connect with Hank’s music. “You just start swimming.”
Mason is a natural performer and has been entering local talent competitions his entire life. He can sing an acapella tune with jaw-dropping power and has learned to play guitar, too.
Videos of a very young Mason show the boy playing a smaller guitar, learning to finger the proper chord shapes and change chords accordingly. Now he wields a full-size guitar, his small frame nearly swallowed up by the instrument’s mass.
On March 24, Mason was spotted singing at an Illinois Walmart, and social media user Dana Tanner stopped to take a video. “Best trip to Wal-Mart thanks to this young man,” Tanner wrote, posting the video that has since sparked excitement over the young man’s talent.
Mason’s grandfather is thrilled that Hank Williams’ hits are living on through his grandson. “Country music fans today don’t understand how big Hank really was in his prime,” Ramsey expressed.
“I had a karaoke set up in my garage and Hank Williams is my favorite, so I always had his music playing,” Ramsey told The Southern. “Mason has been singing Hank songs since he was big enough to walk.”
In the spring of 2017, Mason was a grand finalist in the beginner division of the Kentucky Opry Talent Search. In Jan. 2018, Mason entered the competition again, and this time, walked away as the winner.
Fans across the country are hoping the young man will continue to sing and play, eagerly watching the boy’s accidental career take shape. His grandparents never intended to make Mason into a star — but stardom seems as natural to Mason as “jumping in a pool.”
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