michelej1
03-07-2008, 03:22 PM
http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=83166
Hall-of-Famer Dave Mason packs 40 years of rock into his shows
The founding member of Traffic who went on to a successful solo career has no shortage of material from which to draw for a concert Friday night at the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
By Tracy Rasmussen, Reading Eagle Correspondent
3/5/2008 3:25:00 PM
West Reading, PA - Dave Mason has been making music for more than 40 years, but his eclectic leanings have kept his sound as fresh as if he wrote it yesterday.
And, in fact, some of it was written nearly that recently.
Mason plans to release a CD by summer this year. Tentatively called “26 Letters and 12 Notes,” the disc will contain several songs penned by Mason.
You may even hear a cut or two when Mason performs Friday night at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in West Reading. Mason will be sharing the stage with Al Stewart, who is no stranger to hit-making either, with songs like “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages.”
“There’s a lot of music,” Mason said of his show. “It’s pieces and tunes from different solo albums, a couple of things from Traffic and two or three new songs. It’s really just a mix of things.”
Although he helped found Traffic in the 1960s with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has also worked with musicians as varied as _Jimi Hendrix and Fleetwood Mac.
In a career that has been long and varied, Mason said he couldn’t ever pick one or two best times of his career.
“I’ve had lots of best times, and it’s not over yet,” Mason said. “There will be a new album this year. I personally think it’s the best stuff I’ve ever done. I wrote the bulk of it, but there are some songs that friends of mine wrote and two or three things that I co-wrote.”
Writing isn’t a passion of Mason’s, but he said he enjoys it when he needs to do it.
“I won’t say I do it a lot,” he said. “In fact I never did a lot of writing. If there was an album to be done, then I’d tackle writing. I’m not constantly spewing stuff out. But it does add up after 40 years.”
Writing for him usually consists of finding some time to focus and then working out some things.
“For the most part I’m just sitting around in my little studio, noodling around,” he said. “You can’t always use everything, so I’ll go there and I’ll find lots of bits and pieces lying around and I’ll say, ‘That’s good, let’s see if I can do something with that.’”
Ironically, the song Mason is best known for as a solo artist, “We Just Disagree,” was actually written by a friend of his.
Mason did write the rock classics “Hole in My Shoe” and “Feeling Alright,” which both became hits for him as well as being covered by other artists.
Mason is very content to work on his new music, as he doesn’t spend a lot of time listening to the radio these days.
“I usually listen to talk radio,” he said. “To be honest with you, I don’t listen to much (new) music. I guess a lot of us originated it, and we’ve done it in one form or another. It doesn’t appear that new to us.”
When he is in the mood for some music he’ll turn to jazz or classical.
“That music always sounds new to me,” he said.
It’s what he looks for in his own writing.
“I try to write stuff that will stand the test of time,” he said. “Not something that’s fashionable now. Sometimes I have success and sometimes I don’t.”
Mason has managed to still like his own music after all these years, too, so they have stood the test of time for him.
“I guess I have my favorites,” he said. “The ones that I perform are my favorites. That’s why I put them in the live show. I don’t want to be standing up there bored out of my mind.”
Hall-of-Famer Dave Mason packs 40 years of rock into his shows
The founding member of Traffic who went on to a successful solo career has no shortage of material from which to draw for a concert Friday night at the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
By Tracy Rasmussen, Reading Eagle Correspondent
3/5/2008 3:25:00 PM
West Reading, PA - Dave Mason has been making music for more than 40 years, but his eclectic leanings have kept his sound as fresh as if he wrote it yesterday.
And, in fact, some of it was written nearly that recently.
Mason plans to release a CD by summer this year. Tentatively called “26 Letters and 12 Notes,” the disc will contain several songs penned by Mason.
You may even hear a cut or two when Mason performs Friday night at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in West Reading. Mason will be sharing the stage with Al Stewart, who is no stranger to hit-making either, with songs like “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages.”
“There’s a lot of music,” Mason said of his show. “It’s pieces and tunes from different solo albums, a couple of things from Traffic and two or three new songs. It’s really just a mix of things.”
Although he helped found Traffic in the 1960s with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has also worked with musicians as varied as _Jimi Hendrix and Fleetwood Mac.
In a career that has been long and varied, Mason said he couldn’t ever pick one or two best times of his career.
“I’ve had lots of best times, and it’s not over yet,” Mason said. “There will be a new album this year. I personally think it’s the best stuff I’ve ever done. I wrote the bulk of it, but there are some songs that friends of mine wrote and two or three things that I co-wrote.”
Writing isn’t a passion of Mason’s, but he said he enjoys it when he needs to do it.
“I won’t say I do it a lot,” he said. “In fact I never did a lot of writing. If there was an album to be done, then I’d tackle writing. I’m not constantly spewing stuff out. But it does add up after 40 years.”
Writing for him usually consists of finding some time to focus and then working out some things.
“For the most part I’m just sitting around in my little studio, noodling around,” he said. “You can’t always use everything, so I’ll go there and I’ll find lots of bits and pieces lying around and I’ll say, ‘That’s good, let’s see if I can do something with that.’”
Ironically, the song Mason is best known for as a solo artist, “We Just Disagree,” was actually written by a friend of his.
Mason did write the rock classics “Hole in My Shoe” and “Feeling Alright,” which both became hits for him as well as being covered by other artists.
Mason is very content to work on his new music, as he doesn’t spend a lot of time listening to the radio these days.
“I usually listen to talk radio,” he said. “To be honest with you, I don’t listen to much (new) music. I guess a lot of us originated it, and we’ve done it in one form or another. It doesn’t appear that new to us.”
When he is in the mood for some music he’ll turn to jazz or classical.
“That music always sounds new to me,” he said.
It’s what he looks for in his own writing.
“I try to write stuff that will stand the test of time,” he said. “Not something that’s fashionable now. Sometimes I have success and sometimes I don’t.”
Mason has managed to still like his own music after all these years, too, so they have stood the test of time for him.
“I guess I have my favorites,” he said. “The ones that I perform are my favorites. That’s why I put them in the live show. I don’t want to be standing up there bored out of my mind.”