By Zach Collier
Yesterday, the family of 18-year-old Carson Craig Mooney announced that he had passed away in the ICU after a week-long battle with accident-induced brain trauma. Mooney and two friends had taken a trip towards the salt flats to watch the sunset. While sitting on a bridge over a small road off I-80 west, he slipped and fell 30 feet onto the road below. Friends immediately called for medical assistance and performed CPR until the ambulance arrived. Despite emergency surgery and some signs of improvement, he eventually passed on peacefully, surrounded by his family. He is survived by his mother Tracy, his father Charles (Chick), four brothers: Cade, Cole, Chaz and Creed, and two sisters: Chandler and Catherine.
A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Mooney was known as a “compassionate brother, quiet hero, gentle giant, fire-filled musician, barefoot braveheart, and fiercely loyal friend.” His band, Colours in the Basement, performed with Johanna Johanna and Our Lives In Indigo at Muse Music last January. Mooney and his band were working on a new album before he passed, and according to his family and friends, that’s where his heart was. He was also the bassist for the Orem-based Pop/Country group Firefly. The group has opened for acts like LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride, Little Big Town, Wynonna Judd, Gloriana, Scotty McCreery, and Clint Black.
His family was incredibly supportive of Mooney before, during, and after the ordeal. They created the hashtag #BarefootForCarson to raise awareness of his accident and to ask for prayers and support from friends and family. Mooney was known for always going barefoot: indoor, outdoor, at shows, at rehearsals. “He went barefoot nearly everywhere, and only kept an old pair of black Vans in his car in case he encountered a strict ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ policy,” his family wrote on the official Barefoot for Carson page.
Mooney’s bandmates in Colours in the Basement have expressed heartfelt and emotional condolences on Instagram, sharing videos and photos of them together in the studio and in the hospital. Firefly posted a video via Facebook Live for Carson after a practice on August 3rd, shortly after his accident. “Tonight was kind of weird because we didn’t have our bass player, Carson, with us,” they said before explaining the situation. They played three songs for him and expressed their love and support for his family. Ryan Scott Graham, the lead singer of Mooney’s favorite band, Speak Low If You Speak Love, also showed his support for the family by performing barefoot at a recent concert.
“Beyond loving others, he taught us to accept ourselves, and to feel what it means to be alive through music,” his family wrote. “The happiest grins and most joyous shouts were often emitted on stage or in a crowd surrounded by people that expressed themselves as he did – through sound. He was constantly playing an instrument, or typing up new lyrics on his phone.”
Funeral services for Carson Mooney will be held on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 1:00PM at the Stone Gate Event Center, located at 886 West 2600 North in Pleasant Grove, Utah. A barefoot viewing will be held tonight from 6-8PM in the Anderson & Sons Lone Peak Chapel, located at 6141 West 11000 North in Highland, Utah. An additional viewing will be held tomorrow at Stone Gate Event Center from 11:45AM-12:45PM. All are welcome.
The family has requested that friends of Mooney share a memory at andersonmortuary.com or on the Barefoot for Carson Facebook page. If you have photos you’d like to share, you can send them to barefootforcarson@gmail.com.
Colours in the Basement is having a concert in his honor Friday, August 19th at Rock Canyon Studios. The show starts at 7PM. Rock Canyon Studios is located at 1043 East 2620 North in Provo. For tickets, call Zach Liston at (385) 236-8155. Tickets are $5. All proceeds will go toward completing the album Mooney was working on before he passed. You can stream Carson Mooney’s “Wrong Words Right Time” below.
Provo Music Magazine 