This article is tagged as #School. It was previously published on a different website as a part of Stephanie Pichardo's Senior Comprehensive Assignment.
Scenario: You’re at Walmart doing some light shopping when all of a sudden a small boy in boots and a bowtie begins to yodel. You find this exciting so naturally, you record it and upload it to your socials.
It becomes a viral hit and before you know it that kid you recorded is singing at Coachella. Seems bizarre right?
Well, that’s exactly what happened to Southern Illinois native, Mason Ramsey.
The 11-year-old yodeler, whose socials go by Lil’ Hank Williams, was recorded singing Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues”.
In the video, he is wearing a white long-sleeve button-down shirt with a red bow-tie, blue jeans, and a pair of black boots.
The 3-minute video shows Ramsey standing the middle of Harrisburg, Illinois Walmart yodeling his heart out.
He even scored a spot on the Ellen Show where he said his biggest dreams are to perform at the Grand Opry, a music stage in Nashville, and to attend college.
His wish was her command.
During his appearance, she presented him with a $15,000 college scholarship and an opportunity to perform at the Grand Opry.
People all over Instagram and twitter found Ramsey both cute and funny and where there is a viral video, there is a viral meme that comes from it.
Written for the American Journal of Bioethics, a study on meme culture in social media states “The use of social media offers rich data and innovative methods of recruitment and retention—but also some unexpected ethical conundra because like all memes it can take on a life of its own, evolve, replicate, and influence the world of ideas.” They explain that one meme will change as it is passed along and influence the world one way or another.
Already there are many parts to compilation meme videos of “The Walmart Yodeling Kid”
One of the first memes to surface was an EDM remix of Ramsey’s cover song. One user describes this remix as a “banger” meaning it’s both catchy and a good song.
Twitter user BoofGod even joked by posting a photoshopped picture of Ramsey on a stage captioning it “Coachella 2018.”
It was all fun and jokes until Coachella week one started and during DJ Whethan’s set, Ramsey surprised everyone when he walked out and performed “Lovesick Blues”.
Whetan tweeted “after the yodel kid followed me i dmed him to try and get him to come out as whethan’s guest at coachella. and it happened. ur welcome everyone. i love u mason and i love the internet”
While at Coachella he got to hang out with big celebrities such as Justin Bieber and even snapped a selfie with him!
He announced on his Instagram account which has accumulated over 1 million followers that he “Can’t wait to see California again!”
He kept his word. Two weeks after his initial performance at Coachella, he was invited back to perform at Stagecoach held at the Empire Polo Club, the same location Coachella is held at.
He performed the first night of Stagecoach after Florida Georgia Line’s set.
Last week, Ramsey announced he signed to Atlantic Records and Big Loud Records, based in Nashville.
On Friday, April 27, 2018, he released his first single, “Famous”. The tune is described by Rolling Stone as sounding like “a young Luke Bryan”
He says “It’s pretty cool to be on TV” but he’d rather be “Famous for loving you.”
He sure did win the internet’s heart.