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Brent Mason - World-Renowned Session Player |
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The Brent Mason Tour will run as follows:
- Sunday 21st September – The Red Cow Inn, Dublin
Box Office 00353 1 4593 650
Support by Willie Kelly
- Monday 22nd September – The Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny
Box Office 00 353 74 91 22700
Support by Willie Kelly
- Tuesday 23rd September – The Burnavon Theatre, Cookstown
Box office 028 8676 9949
Support by Matt McGinn
- Wednesday 24th September – The Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen
Box office 028 66 325440
Support by Matt McGinn
- Thursday 25th September – The Marketplace Theatre, Armagh
Box office 02837521821
Support by Matt McGinn
Tickets to see Brent Mason are now on sale.
For the Dublin and Letterkenny show the tickets are on sale from ticketmaster and the venues and all other shows are on sale from the venues.
Matt McGinn will support Brent Masons three Northern Ireland shows.
Backing Band for the tour –
Drums – Brendan Mc Garrity
Bass – Connie O Doherty
Guitar – Matt Curran
Keyboards – James “Cloudy “Henry
Do you read the credits of the country music CD’s that you buy? Sure, it’s a lot like reading the credits when you go to the movies. Are you really going to recognize any of those names? But if you stuck with it, you’ll start recognizing certain names. And in music, especially country music, Brent Mason’s name is one you see again and again.
With good reason.
Just check out Brent's song credits yourself on www.allmusic.com - It goes on for miles. According to many publications Brent has owned country music for over a decade with at least seven out of ten of the songs in the top ten at any given time - not annually - being played on by him since the early nineties.
For many years he has won the annual Music City Allstars Award for being the musician with the most songs they have played on being in the radio top ten hits for the entire year. Over and over he wins this award. This is IN ADDITION to his CMA awards and Academy of Country Music Awards from 1993 - 2002, and 2005.
Though he would never admit it, Brent is named in writing as the most recorded guitar player alive. Realistically, you probably are listening to Brent most of the time you hear country radio. On average, 8 out 10 songs on modern country radio has Brent on guitar. Even Alan Jackson himself said on a TV special that aired several years ago, "Brent Mason - whew...- that boy - well, he's not human".
Brent has virtually owned country music for the past decade, His inventive style and masterful playing has made him one of the most in-demand session guitarists in the world. I wont even begin to list his ENTIRE impressive playing credits, there are just too many to count! Check it out for yourself, though: www.allmusic.com
Even though he has plenty of reason to be boastful, the ever-humble Nashville guitarist once said, “I have never pursued fame, I just wanted to be known as a musician’s musician, singer and songwriter”.
Growing up in a musical family, Mason is a self taught musician – playing the guitar at the age of five. While growing up he listened to a variety of guitars. His influences included Jerry Reed, Merle Haggard, George Benson, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and James Taylor. Thus his music became as versatile as his idols.
After graduating from High School, he decided to pursue music full time and in 1981 after being laid off from work he moved to Nashville. Mason met up with his only industry contact, Paul Franklin, a session steel guitar player, he had met when living in Ohio. Franklin and Mason became good friends and Franklin helped Mason learn the Nashville ropes. It was Franklin’s brother-in-law who led Mason to land his first playing job in Nashville, at the Stage Coach Lounge. Besides keeping food on the table for about five years, this job opened some important doors for Mason in the music community.
After playing the club for two years, the band became known as one of the hottest in town. One day, Mason heard Chet Atkins was coming to hear them. “I said ‘Sure he is’. Then in walks Chet himself! He sat at the table closest to the stage and just watched me play. It was the most exciting thing to happen to me yet!” Then a month later, Atkins stopped by again, and time brought George Benson with him. Though these meetings, Atkins asked Mason to play on his album, “STAY TUNED”. This project was Mason’s first master session and included legendary guitar greats such as George Benson, Mark Knopfler and Earl Klugh.
From this break, Mason emerged as one of the most in demand session players in Music City. In addition to the A-List of stars he has worked with, Mason’s playing can be heard on such movies as “Look Who’s Talking”, “The Grifters”, “Honeymoon in Vegas”, “Home Alone 2”, “Pure Country”, “Eight Seconds”, and the recent “Horse Whisperer”.
Mason has also written numerous instrumental pieces that can be hard on a variety of TV and radio programs. “Friends” is very happy to be playing Mason in the background of its shows. Also “Late Night w/ David Letterman”, “Ricki Lake Show”, “The Price is Right”, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, “Touched by an Angel”, and the big halftime commercial for “NFL”.
The two rival truck companies Ford and Chevy have Mason playing on both Joe Diffie’s “Pickup Man” and Alan Jackson’s about his favorite Ford Truck. All this talent and hard work have not gone unnoticed. The CMA (Country Music Association) named him “Musician of the Year” for two consecutive years in 1997 and 1998. He had been nominated since 1993 before finally winning in 1997. The ACM (Academy of Country Music) named him “Guitarist of the Year” starting in 1993 now through 1998. A six year win after being nominated in 1991 and 1992. Mason has made Music Row Magazines “Top 10 Album All Star Guitarist” for the past five years. And then received a Nammie award in Nashville for 1995 “Guitarist of the Year.”
Mason’s style has received critical acclaim form musicians all over the world. He frequently receives inquires from musicians Worldwide about his playing techniques. It was these requests which led to the creation of “Brent Mason’s Nashville Chops & Western Swing Guitar” instruction video.
“I get calls from not only all over the US, but from Europe as well asking for lessons or information about my playing. My style is different and there is a need for players to learn a different approach.”
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One of his goals of this project is to teach in a few lessons a style that took him years to develop. “I want to share my techniques with some of the more advanced students and professional musicians. It has taken years for me to figure everything out by ear. Hopefully, I can demonstrate some of my tricks for playing in a way that will help them learn a little easier than it took me.”
Mason’s video project was produced by Arlen Roth and is available by Hotlicks Productions. A first time endeavor this instructional video was nominated for “Best New Instructional Video of the Year” by the Music and Sound Awards. The project features a sample of Mason’s playing and songwriting talents.
In 1997, Mason released his first instrumental album titled “Hot Wired” aptly named after the scorching hot tunes played on this CD. This album not only showcased Brent's country guitar abilities, but also his incredible talent with rock and jazz guitar styles.
In 1999, Brent and four other incredible session players, Eddie Bayers, Paul Franklin, John Hobbs, and Michael Rhodes wrote, recorded and released an album of original tunes that has Brent singing on many of them. While not widely known, Brent actually had a record deal as a solo artist at one time and is as equally talented as a singer as he is a guitar virtuoso! This sparked a release of a live video of the band playing these songs which later was aired as a special on TNN, THE Pinnacle country music-based cable broadcast channel at that time, which eventually led to the CMT and GAC networks of today.
Be sure to check out the soundclips and enjoy a few samples from this album as well!
You can even listen to this amazing 'super-group' play live... several times a year they get together and play a small club called "3rd and Lindsley". It is a very intimate setting...a small club, and between sets the band members walk around and talk to everyone. They play originals from "The Players" album, as well as from Brent's "Hot wired" album. They also do several cover songs "The Players" style! See www.3rdandLindsley.com for details.
In 2003, Valley Arts guitars dissected Brent's infamous gray-primered telecaster, brought in Joe Glaser of Glaser Instruments. Joe actually is THE 'go-to' guy when it comes to Brent's guitar. Joe helped them duplicate Brent's telecaster piece by piece, down to the smallest details. You can actually get a guitar just like Brent's - simply purchase one of these Valley Arts guitars.
2006 will be a huge year for Brent. A "musicians hall of fame" museum is being erected in downtown Nashville (Tennessee) which will have a special section about Brent.
A new CD which stars Brent's brother on drums, Randy Mason, is due out later in 2006. This album will be more of a "live club" type of sound and will feature mostly jazz swing numbers with a sort of Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins feel.
Brent is also working with award winning drummer Lonnie Wilson again on his follow-up to the jaw-dropping "hot wired" solo album which many consider the all-time top instrumental guitar record. Due out in late 2006/early 2007, this album promises to be even better than "Hot Wired" and will feature jazzy numbers, upbeat rock tunes, and, of course, the country chicken pickin' that Brent does so well.
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Support artist Willie Kelly is a twenty eight year old singer songwriter from Sligo on the west of Ireland. However His song writing style has been hailed by many as leaning toward something a little different, maybe this is down to the fact that Willie has spent a considerable amount of time in the song writing capital of the world Nashville Tennessee honing and developing his craft with some of the finest writers and producers music city has to offer. Willies song style definitely leans toward the natural almost old style country feel but it is injected with a contemporary rock/pop feel and sound that fuse together to make something quite exciting indeed. Currently Willie is touring venues in Ireland with his live six piece band “The Grassholes” showcasing songs from their forthcoming album. |
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Support artist Matt McGinn
Originating in a tiny village in the Mourne Mountains called Hilltown, Matt has made his stamp on the Northern Irish music scene and further afield. In the last year Matt has recorded and released his self-produced debut E.P. performed in places as far off as Washington and Denmark, and has blown audiences away at many high profile gigs in London and Ireland, including the Bedford (London); a remarkable evening in Belfast, celebrating the album Astral Weeks, along with Duke Special and Brian Huston; a show topping
performance in Dublin's prestigious Hard Working Class Heroes festival; and a debut performance st Electric Picnic in 2007. At the minute Matt is concentrating on his first album, on which (in stark contrast to his isolated E.P.) he will be using some of Ireland's most creative and skilled musicians.
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If you want to keep up with the latest news in the Matt McGinn camp simply email, red.diesel@hotmail.com with the subject MAILING LIST and tell us your name and where you're from. Or, visit Matt on
www.myspace.com/mattthemusicman.
Enjoy! |
From the Brent Mason website |
