2023 Deep Roots: Live At Five – Mississippi Mason w/Thomas Sanders

Mississippi Mason is a singer/songwriter hailing from Columbus, MS. Mason writes and sings music for “simple folks”–storytelling songs with catchy, singable melodies and accessible lyrics. Having tasted the music business while growing up traveling with his dad’s southern gospel band on the weekends, it’s no surprise that he ended up as a musician himself.

With influences from a wide range of old and new country, southern rock, and gospel artists, Mason seems at home in a ball cap as much as the cowboy hat to which he’s dedicated an entire song. As a writer, he seems less influenced by the bro-country of the last decade and more inspired by the writers of yesteryear. His idols are Johnny Cash, Jamey Johnson, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and it shows. There’s even a quality to his voice that seems to belong in a bygone era–his smooth tone mimics mid-century country balladeer Jim Reeves at some points, and at others a 20th-century country tone that could have put him in the running to be the fifth member of the Highwaymen.

He is currently marketing, promoting, and touring in support of his new album, Just The Way I Am. The ultimate dream for Mason? To sing from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry and have his songs broadcast over WSM. It seems that he is well on his way. Just like country greats before him, he writes and sings with a rugged honesty that comes across as absolutely genuine. www.mississippimason.com

Sharing the bill will be piano prodigy Thomas Sanders. Sanders was born in the river town of Natchez, Mississippi, and began playing piano at eight years of age, feeling “drawn” to the piano after hearing old-time radio programs and the music of local performers. Often compared to Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley, Thomas’ upbeat performing style is rooted in the genres of boogie-woogie, rock and roll, and country, and he works hard every show to provide high energy entertainment for his audiences.