Premiere: Mason Summit, ‘Thoughts & Prayers’
Kevin Bronson on
3
Like many a great protest singer, 21-year-old Mason Summit draws from current events in his new single “Thoughts & Prayers.” And like not enough 21-year-olds, he draws not from his contemporaries but from one of the folk singers of the 1960s, Phil Ochs, and specifically Ochs’ 1968 album “Rehearsals for Retirement.”
“In light of the social, economic, and political disasters occurring daily in this country, writing a song about my personal life sometimes feels selfish to me,” says the Santa Monica songwriter, who already has released four full-lengths. “But I was driven by a Phil Ochs quote: ‘In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.’ ‘Thoughts & Prayers’ is the way I could get my anger and grief out in a productive, and hopefully artful, way.”
Summit conceived the song after the mass shooting at the Harvest Musical Festival in Las Vegas. That was 13 months ago, and the carnage has scarcely stopped. There’s a healthy dose of the biting lyrical wit for which Ochs was known in Summit’s chorus: “Thank you for your thoughts and prayers / they made all the difference …”
The song, the follow-up to the album “Summer Cold,” was recorded by Jim Doyle and features Jeff Frantom on bass and Jarren Heidelberg on percussion. It’s officially out on Tuesday, Nov. 6. P.S.: That’s Election Day.
||| Stream: “Thoughts & Prayers”
Mason Summit is A Can’t Miss Extraordinary Musician and Songwriter with a Beautiful Voice.
Congrats, Mason!! I love the Phil Ochs quote. Indeed, you have succeeded in creating beautiful, poetic protest. To borrow from one of the greatest lyricists of all time, Hal David, it’s “what the world needs now…”.
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