Mooney’s Musical Success
On April 5, 2015, Sam Mooney, an Oxford, MS singer and songwriter, released his second album entitled “Find My Way.” Since being released, “Find My Way” has made the top 10 on the iTunes Singer and Songwriter chart.
“This new album is much more deeper, and ‘Find my Way’ is the most deep song on the album. I think it’s very honest,” Mooney said.
The singer, age 20, describes his music as “southern pop mixed with soul.” He inspiration comes from artists like Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Ray Charles and today’s pop artists.
Background
Mooney, originally from Brookhaven, MS, currently attends the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. His love of music began at a young age, and has taken him to performing across the country and billboard ratings.
“Looking back, I had a really advanced understanding of music as a kid. I remember hearing my mom playing the piano in my house and going down and being really captivated by it,” Mooney said.
Mooney’s music background began with piano lessons as a child in 2004. He admits though that they were not his favorite and did not always take them very seriously. However that changed when his parents gave him a keyboard for Christmas in 2006.
“That’s when I started to realize how much you can do with music,” Mooney said.
By the help of an “unconventional piano teacher”, Mooney was able to practice and play untraditional piano music. His teacher Marvin Curtis, who is a blues and rock musician, allowed Mooney to study all types of music and so called “feed the fire” of Mooney’s love of pop music.
Between the ages of 13 and 14, Mooney began writing his own songs. His first performance was in 2012 at his sister’s wedding reception when the band allowed him to sing a few songs.
“I started singing without as much fear in about 2012, because that’s when I realized I had nothing to loose, and there’s no point of at least not trying,” Mooney said.
After that the musician started taking vocal lessons and took an active stance on his music career. In 2013, he attended Berklee’s Five-Week Summer Performance Program in Boston, MA. There he placed top 10 in the performer and songwriter competition, and was awarded the opportunity to play on Berklee’s stage in front of 1,200 people.
“It was on the same stage that John Mayer and all these other famous people had performed, so it was cool and very surreal. That was still probably one of my best moments ever,” Mooney said.
During his senior year of high school, Mooney competed in The Mid South Fair’s talent competition based in Memphis, TN. He performed the song “Too Close” by Alex Clare and won the competition. Now Mooney looks back at the event as one his favorite moments in his music career.
“There’s an awesome thing about selling a lot of albums, but it’s not as tangible as winning a competition. I appreciate it more looking back on it then I did at the time,” Mooney said.
Mooney released his first album entitled “Somewhere in Between” on July 15 2014, which includes six original songs. Today, both of his albums can be found on iTunes, Spotify and SoundCloud, and have been featured on iTune’s top charts.
In the fall of 2014, Mooney began his freshman year at The University of Mississippi. He arrived though with skepticism and worried that he should have gone to a more musically inclined school. That skepticism soon began to diminish however once he started performing in Oxford and focusing on his studies.
“Honestly, I have been so glad I have come here though. Firstly, because as a Mississippian it’s special to be here and to be able to launch my career from Mississippi,” Mooney said.
Mooney is now in his sophomore year as an Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) major. His IMC classes have taught him about marketing his music and how to brand himself as a musician.
“I’m more strategic as a musician largely because of the IMC program and what I’ve learned in those classes. IMC has made me view me and my music as a brand, and how to make people relate and interact to that brand” Mooney said.
Since being in Oxford, Mooney has performed in a handful of local venues and been apart of two separate bands. He admits though that it was really hard at first getting gigs during his freshman year.
“It was really tough, because I really only played at school events. But as I have grown and gotten better at expanding my fan base more, it’s easier to get gigs now. It’s still a challenge though and you really have to work,” Mooney said.
Finding One’s Way in Oxford’s Music Scene
Oxford hosts a wide variety of musicians and songwriters, giving the town a very unique music scene. But even for being a small town, there is a lot of competition amongst performers due to the few number of music venues.
Shane Prewitt is another local musician in Oxford who mainly plays the drums. A graduate from Ole Miss, Prewitt has also experienced the town’s competition as a beginning musician.
“There’s a bit of competition here. I especially noticed that once I moved here. It took me, with the band I moved here with in college, three years to get a show at Proud Larry’s and that was the goal,” Prewitt said.
Prewitt currently works as a bartender and manager at Oxford’s Proud Larry’s. From this he has been able to see and experience both the musician and venue side of Oxford’s music scene.
“To me, Oxford has the best crowds and most receptive people,” Prewitt said.
With Oxford being a college town, there are a wide variety of possible fans and listeners. The mix of young college students and older locals make its tougher for artists and venue owners to appeal to just one age range.
“It’s very rare that there are equal numbers of students and people over the age of 30 at a concert,” Prewitt said.
Lindsay Dillon-Maginnis is the General Manager of one of Oxford’s concert venues The Lyric. She has been working there for about eight years and notes the importance of bringing in bands that attract a wide variety of ticket buyers.
“I think now it has evolved that Oxford is starved for things to do, people to see and bands to go watch. Now we have tapped into the Oxford market itself and can appeal to larger markets and not just the college kids here,” Dillon-Maginnis said.
The Lyric hosts all sorts of concerts from country, rap, rock, indie and more. But while The Lyric is a popular concert venue, production costs and fees are expensive and make it difficult for smaller or more local performers to play.
Dr. Jason Cain is a professor at The University of Mississippi and teaches both journalism and IMC classes. Originally from outside Jackson, MS, Cain has lived all over the country and is a guitar performer himself. After playing in larger cities like Nashville, TN, Austin TX and Gainesville, FL, Cain has experienced many different music scenes.
“It always kinds seemed that Oxford had a bubble. You can be a big fish in a little pond in towns like this,” Cain said.
One thing Cain noted he liked about Oxford’s music scene was how musicians got paid to perform, something he hadn’t always experienced in other cities. He did how ever reference the competition that exists in Oxford and “musical elitism” and “cliques.”
“The challenging side of Oxford is there’s musical elitism that’s cropped up. It’s always been in college towns. So there’s a couple of kinds of music that you can do here all over town, but then there’s types of music you can’t do all over town,” Cain said.
Regardless of the difficulties the city may have, it is the passion of music, performing and the town of Oxford itself that keeps so many musicians here.
“I love music. Writing songs is one of the best things I can give to the world. I love performing in a show when you can tell that people are really having fun,” Mooney said.
This summer, Mooney plans on touring around the South East including states like Florida, Georgia and even Texas.
“I like the kind of spontaneity of it and that everyday you’re in a different place. Just getting to play music and build your career and following is really cool,” Mooney said.
Click here to view a timeline of Mooney’s career.
Written by Mary Elizabeth Moore