Walmart Yodel Boy

About

Walmart Yodel Boy refers to a video of 12-year old Mason Ramsey performing the country song "Lovesick Blues" in a Walmart. The video went viral as people applied various captions to it and remixed it.

Origin

On March 24th, 2018 in Harrisburg, Illinois, child performer Mason Ramsey, known for his Hank Williams impressions, was filmed singing "Lovesick Blues" in a Walmart.^[1] A video of the performance was uploaded two days later by YouTube account ViralHog.

Spread

On March 27th, the video began spreading on Twitter after a tweet by @dumbassvegan^[1] paired the clip with the caption "Me: which aisle can i find light bulbs?
Walmart employee:", gaining over 49,000 retweets and 167,000 likes.

Following that tweet, Twitter users began joking about the clip in various ways. Some users created photoshops of the character. For example, Twitter user @The_Winnster made a Tired Spongebob edit that gained over 360 retweets and 1,600 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @miafxulkner tweeted an Is Your Child Texting About joke about the video, gaining over 30 retweets and 110 likes (shown below, right).

There were also several remixed versions of the clip. Twitter user @slaymerxha remixed the clip with Charli XCX's "Dreamer," gaining over over 670 retweets and 1,700 likes (shown below, top). Twitter user @TheYoshinoya edited the clip to sound as though it were playing in a large empty room, gaining over 60 retweets and 150 likes (shown below, bottom).

Effect on Spotify

After Ramsey's video went viral, streams for the song he sings in the video, "Lovesick Blues" by Hank Williams, saw a two-week 2,452% increase in streams on Spotify, making it number 4 on Spotify's Global Viral 50 Chart.^[2] The effect is similar to that of a viral tweet featuring Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" that brought that song back onto the charts. Ramsey also saw more widespread exposure after appearing and performing on The Ellen Degeneres Show. His performance, uploaded April 10th, 2018 to YouTube, was the top trending video on April 11th.

Coachella Performance

On April 13th, 2018, Ramsey performed at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. The singer was invited by DJ Whethan who joined the singer on stage.

That day, Twitter^[3] user @pauldonatelli tweeted a video of the performance with the caption, "yo @whethanmusic just brought out the yodel kid at coachella!! 😂🤠🤠" The post (shown below) received more than 75,000 retweets and 234,000 likes in three days.

Subsequent Tour and Music Releases

On April 26th, 2018, Mason Ramsey released his first single and lyric video titled 'Famous.' Over the course of a year, the lyric video has amassed 24.3 million views on YouTube (shown below).

On July 20th, Ramsey released his EP, also titled 'Famous.' From March 22nd to April 26th, Ramsey embarked on the first half of his first tour, which consisted of 11 performances and was titled the 'How's Your Girl & How's Your Family Tour.' The tour saw Yodel Boy perform in popular cities such as New York City, Nashville, and Baton Rouge. The second half of the 'How's Your Girl & How's Your Family Tour' will kick off on September 13th at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. ^[4]

Crowd Surfing on an Inflatable Horse

On April 24th, Mason Ramsey headlined a show in Nashville and during his performance crowd-surfed in an inflatable horse. Reporter, Dave Paulso was the first to tweet video footage (shown below). His tweet gained over 500 retweets and 2,200 likes in two days.

"Before I Knew It"

On July 26th, 2019, Mason Ramsey released the song "Before I Knew It" from his album "Twang," released the same year. The official YouTube upload (shown below) gained over 482,000 views in three years.

The song experienced a surge in popularity in January 2022 on TikTok as TikTokers discovered it for the first time and praised Ramsey's musical talent.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References