BIOGRAPHY
Mason Marcus Turner is a Country and Folk musician hailing from Langley, Washington. He grew up playing in many different kinds of bands, spanning many different genres. He eventually would focus his full love and passion into his own brand of Country and Folk music.
"The alder is tall she whispers her song I hear it and I listen but I cannot for long. Because I chop her on down and feed her to the mill do these Green Giants all have to be killed?" - Green Giants, Mason Marcus Turner.
Mason Marcus Turner is a pacific northwest native songwriter, folk musician, and storyteller whose music is rooted in the folk traditions of the pacific northwest. He uses this history to empower his listeners and guide them to their own heritage while telling stories of his own.
Music was all around Mason when he was growing up, and for a kid with a stutter music was a gateway to speech fluency. While his parents didn’t play music, little did he know that his family history was chalked with musicians from choir boys, to piano teachers, to opera singers.
At age 8, Mason found his father’s guitar in the closet one day and pulled it out of the case. His dad showed him three chords and he was off to the races. Mason wrote 10 songs within a week and it was easy to see that he had found his place in the family lineage of musicians. Music was deep in his roots and all it took was a little push to discover his interpretation of the art form.
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Mason grew up being exposed to all sorts of different artists. His father raised him on The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, and John Coltrane whereas his mother introduced him to Thelonious Monk, John Prine, and Bob Dylan. These influences allowed Mason to really find his own sound in the future – (Mason Turner’s sound is a cross between the songwriting of John Prine and Tyler Childers with a strong influence of the Pacific Northwest.
After continuing his music playing and songwriting throughout his teen years, Mason attended the Berklee College of Music finishing his studies and graduating in 2021. His focus was on the Professional Music major including concentrations in The American Roots Program and Music & Society, with a minor in Africana Studies.
The teachers at Berklee pushed Mason to explore not only his love of folk music but also jazz, fusion, classical, and R&B. It was this persistence from his teachers that let Mason progress not only as a songwriter but as a folk musician as well.
Mason has been awarded the Berklee College of Music Merit Scholarship, The Centrum Scholarship, and the Washington Blues Society Scholarship. Turner has been very grateful for the opportunities that he has been given by these organizations and the fact that they have recognized him for his hard work and dedication to his craft and art.
Currently, Mason is working on his next EP, “Mason Marcus Turner,” to be released in the next year to take his career to the next step. The project is a four song EP inspired by his time spent on his father’s farm near Langley, WA. During his Covid-19 quarantine, Turner spent a lot of his time learning about living on the stolen land of the Snohomish first nations people. He also became interested in learning about the loggers who lived on Whidbey island in the 1920s. Soaking up the land’s history Turner sat down and got right to writing.
Mason is very proud of the music on this new EP and can’t wait for you to hear it. You can follow the progress of the album on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, his website, and his email newsletter.