TOM MASON
Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers play with the fervor of the Pogues and the sensitivity of the Buena Vista Social Club. Their songs that transport you to the wildest pub in Port Royal at the turn of the eighteenth century. Their CD “The Blue Buccaneer- Songs Inspired by the Golden Age of Pirates” is a rowdy and evocative work that transcends any aspect of novelty that one might expect at first glance. Tom’s theatricality and musicianship make for an explosive mix. His songs conjure up a life on the seas in an era when the only hope for destitute sailors was to go “on the account”, to become pirates.
The Blue Buccaneers comprise some of the finest musicians in any hemisphere and draw on their rich musical backgrounds to create a work rich with flavor and soul. Drummer Paul Griffith, born on the Isle of Wight and raised in Louisiana, has recorded and toured with everyone from cajun Jo-el Sonnier to John Prine, Sheryl Crow, and k.d. Lang. Bassist Lorne Rall is a fixture on the Americana scene, having played with Lucinda Williams, Rosie Flores, and James Intveld. Michael Webb, the band’s accordionist, has toured and recorded with such acts as John Fogarty, Bobby Keys, Poco, and the Wreckers. Violinist Jens Kramer has toured the country with Broadway shows and is a first call fiddler in New York City. Making cameos on “The Blue Buccaneer” are some of Nashville’s finest singers and musicians, including Phil Lee, Grammy nominees Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, Gypsy Hombre Peter Hyrka, drummer Billy Block, and BR-549’s Mark Miller.
The songs on “The Blue Buccaneer” are all new, yet the mastery of the songwriting gives them the feel of classic sea shanties and world-worn ballads. There are rousing sing-along drinking songs (“Pirate Song”, “In The Drink”), piratical rave-ups (“Queen of the Spanish Main”, “Say Goodbye”), and ballads that bear out the harsh realities of life on the sea (“Wondrous Wind”, “Sail Away”). “In The Service of the King” is a lively tale of a sailor unwillingly pressed into service in the Royal Navy and his desertion to become a pirate. “Decked Out Like The Devil” is a piratical fashion show, in which Blackbeardian pirates dress to scare their victims into submission. Throughout the record, the excitement of Tom Mason & the Blue Buccaneers’ live show is apparent, whether it be at a theater, on a festival stage, at a beach-side tavern, at a rowdy St Patricks day party, or, of course, on the deck of a brigantine sailing through the Caribbean.
As a solo artist, Tom Mason has released four CD’s: "Alchemy", “Where Shadows Fall”, “A Slide Guitar Christmas” (instrumental), and “The Blue Buccaneer”. He has also released numerous collaborative CD’s, including two by the Big Happy on Western Beat Records and one with Nashville’s Lower Broadway stalwarts Swampgrass. He has been featured on such compilations as “For Kate’s Sake: An Americana Christmas”, “The Other Side: Music of East Nashville”, and “Yuletide from the Other Side” and the new “East Nashville Volume 3”. In addition to being a solo artist and bandleader, Tom Mason has played lead guitar for a multitude of artists. Recently, he’s been touring the US and Europe with Phil Lee, frequently plays with D.C. favorites Last Train Home, and with Supe Granda of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. As an actor, Tom treads the boards from coast to coast. He’s performed in the National Tour of “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash”, and played Clarence in Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Richard III”. He has also acted in countless other regional productions, and was a guest artist at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Cabaret Conference. Also active in film, Tom’s most recent role was Shams in Pouria Montazeri’s “Shams and Rumi: The Fragrance of Axis Mundi”, a visually stunning film about the Persian poet Rumi’s mystical transformation. Other roles have included kidnappers, drug dealers, the devil, pirates, and Dolly Parton’s Dobro player in a Lifetime television movie.
“The Blue Buccaneer” is a rollicking account of privateer life that brings together the many aspects of Tom Mason’s storied career: singer, songwriter, actor, conjuror, and, yes, PIRATE!
TOM MASON BIO: FICTIONALIZED
Tom Mason (b.1898 Theodore Mashowitz) was the youngest of seven children of Rudolf and Minnie Mashowitz, who immigrated from Prussia in 1892. Rudolf Mashowitz was the inventor of the home entertainment center,c.1895, which, due to the rarity of electronic devices at the time, failed to catch on for another seventy years.
Recognizing her youngest son’s talent, Minnie Mashowitz re-christened Theodore “Tiny Tommy Mason” and would routinely usher the seven year old onto the stage of a Vaudeville show while another act was performing, where the ever-charming carrot top would execute his masterful impression of a fish. Within months, posters of the mother and son were pasted on stage doors, and a star was born.
= With the advent of the talking motion picture (1928) and the inevitable decline of Vaudeville, (and the proliferation of fish impersonators) , Tom dropped the “Tiny” from his moniker and began to prepare for the birth of rock and roll, spending the next three decades searching for the perfect pomade.
By the time Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard burst onto the scene, Tom was already a legend in the Poconos, where his upbeat interpretation of “Why Not Minot?” was a hit among returning honeymooners.
In the nineteen sixties, when psychedelia and the summer of love was sweeping the nation, Tom joined in on the fun and headed to Nashville, landing there in 1993.
The right Reverend Thomas Ezekial Mason, (b. 1935 Cat’s Paw, TN), followed in the footsteps of his father, spreading the gospel in the Church of Holy Matters and Pastry Suggestions. However, the budding preacher faltered in his libidinous teens, collecting the offerings at prayer meetings and spending them at dens of perdition. Cast off from the church and falling into a life of sin, he chanced to stumble into a roadhouse where the jukebox was playing Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light”, and at that point returned to the church with a new ferver and began his long battle to have Hank canonized.
Tom Mason (b.1972, Fort Wayne, Indiana) is best known for the discovery of “Alt- Country”. “I can’t remember what year it was, but I walked into a bar somewhere and saw this band who used to play punk rock singing a Hank Williams song, wearing cowboy hats, and talking in a really bad southern drawl”. Mason had previously discovered Christian Rock (he was listening to the radio one day when he heard Stryper singing about Jesus), and is widely credited with the discovery of neo-facist talk radio (though some would dispute that, as he was never able to listen long enough to verify what he was hearing.)
Among other innovations Mason has made in the music business are Standing-on-the-bar-with-a-microphone® and Offending-the-nice-couple from-Indianapolis®.
Thomas Mason - Butler
Thomas Mason, Butler: The story of how I came to be Alex McCollough’s man-servant.
Back in the early part of this century I was, believe it or not, and itinerant musician, and, like other entertainers of the time, would make little collections of song on what were called “compact discs”. That was long before Mr. McCollough achieved the iconic stature he has today, and at the time he was the final person you would take your “discs” to before they were duplicated, and it was his job to make the “discs” sound good and cohesive, within the parameters of what he was given. (Ironically, and perhaps prophetically, this process was called “mastering” and the firm where he worked was called “Yes Master”!)
Well, I had the good fortune of having my “compact discs” “mastered” by Mr McCollough, and the results were palpable, and one of the comments I received about the “compact discs” was that they were “masterfully mastered”. Now here is the occurrence which I would like to relate that would change the course of my life, undoubtedly for the better: upon leaving the offices of Yes Master, Mr McCollough handed me the “disc” (a collection of songs about pirates), a piece of paper denoting the durations of the contents, and (most importantly!) a letter explaining the proper procedure for reviewing the “disc” before sending it to the factory. The last paragraph read “If you are crediting a mastering engineer, it should read “Alex McCollough at Yes Master, Nashville””.
I was so excited to have had Mr McCollough work on my music (his job actually entailed listening to the music!) that I couldn’t wait to get it out to the public! I hurriedly approved any artwork and sounds that accompanied the “disc”, not realizing that I had credited someone else, a Mr “Alex McCullough” with mastering my “compact disc”. It may be hard to imagine in this day and age, but the outcome of my blunder was disastrous! It was as if I had forgotten to place a specific bolt in the base of the Eiffel Tower, or used an inferior paint for the Sistine Chapel! The fallout may have lead to me being a broken man, but fate had another thing in store: years later, while being driven through our humble metropolis, Mr McCollough saw me pushing a shopping cart full of my belongings through Shelby Park, and asked his driver to slow down. His lordship took pity on me and sent the driver back to retrieve me, and to purchase this fine suit you see me wearing today.
I can honestly say I shudder to think what depths my life would have sunk to had I not made that simple spelling mistake. All I can tell you is that these days I wake up to the sound of my alarm and smile when I’m reminded “I’m the butler for THE Alex McCollough”! Now, I must go, master’s tea is getting cold!!
