New Tom Mason solo
CD in the works!
I am very excited about the CD I'm recording in Nashville, with some of the greatest musicians and singers I've ever met. I've written a whole batch of new songs, enough to pick and choose which ones make the cut. I'm also re-recording my most popular song, "I Thought I Heard a Train", written with Billy Alcorn. While it has been recorded before, I'd like to give it the treatment it deserves, bringing in some special guests to sing on it. Another song I'm planning to re-record is "Henri Matisse", about the marvelous cut-outs the painter did at the end of his life. In the 1980s, before the digital age, my band released "Henri Matisse" as a single, and it is such an uplifting song I'm bringing it back.
Some of the friends joining me (above) are Jeff Thorneycroft, Fawn Larson, Sheila Lawrence, Pete Pulkrabek, Martin Lynds, Mark Miller, the McCrary Sisters, and Wirebird Productions' Brett Ryan Stewart. Photos by Stacie Huckeba.
Help us get the new album made
by being an executive or associate producer!
Many independent recording artists raise money through crowd-funding platforms like kickstarter, but honestly I don't have the energy for that at this time. The money I raise will pay for the musicians, including a few known guest artists, as well as the artwork, the studio time, the pressing of CDs, and promotion of the CDs. I've rarely been able to have my CDs promoted professionally, relying on public performances. I love performing and hope to continue to perform as my health and the scheduling of my treatments permits.
I'm raising funds to pay for the recording, manufacture, and promotion of the new CD by inviting people to be listed as Executive Producers ($1,000 or more) or Associate Producers ($500 or more). It's the musical equivalent of having a gallery in a museum named after you. I estimate the cost of recording the CD to be around $20,000 and promotion to be about twice that. If you donate below you will automatically be listed as an Executive or Associate Producer unless you would like to remain anonymous.
You can also send a check to Tom Mason, P.O. Box #24456, Nashville, TN 37202.
International Pirate Hall of Fame
I just got the incredible news that I've been inducted into The International Pirate Hall of Fame, a non-profit organization honoring and paying tribute to Pirates and Pirate related performers, authors, and others from the Golden Age of Piracy up until today. It's quite an honor to have been one of ten chosen from over 500 nominees for 2023. Inductees from previous years include Robert Louis Stevenson, Bartholomew Roberts, Errol Flynn, Robert Newton, Johnny Depp, and Blackbeard. I am so grateful to the International Pirate Hall of Fame and to the pirate community for this recognition.
KUMBAYARRRR! Tom Mason & The Blue Buccaneers have been playing for a dozen years. I've been singing these songs for a long time and now it's YOUR turn! I've created an illustrated songbook of 22 of the most sing-along-able Blue Buccaneers songs, three traditional sea shanties from the CD "Pirate Party", and two of of my most requested non-pirate songs, "I Thought I Heard a Train" and "I Don't Want the Night to End". Each song has the lyrics, melody, and chords, and there are over a dozen illustrations begging to be colored in. All the songs from our children's CD (no rum or murder) and many of our all-ages CDs (plenty of rum and murder) are included.
When I was a kid every summer my family would go to the lake cottage my grandfather built in the 1920's. There was no television, so for entertainment we'd gather around the fireplace and have sing-alongs, reading out of folk songbooks and playing guitars and ukuleles. It was great, a tradition I'd wish on any family.
If you have a big family, buy a few! Thank ye all!
