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John-Alex Mason
Musician
mason943
Style: Blues
Joined: July 05, 2006
Last Sign In: 5 months ago
Videos Watched: 635
Subscribers: 82
Channel Views: 7,085
Danceable Grooves and rocking original tunes all rooted in a repertoire of Delta, Piedmont and Hill Country Blues all wrapped up in the spectacle of a One-Man Band. Deep Country Blues...Electrified!
John-Alex Mason attributes his love of music to two central people from his childhood in Colorado. First, his older brother, Stephen, who rocked out to music of the 60's and 70's - Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers Band. And second, his godmother, Viola Marigna, who introduced him to Baptist moans and gospel through her own voice, mass choir concerts and church performances. "I remember the exact moment Stephen played Led Zeppelin II for me and how powerful the smell of heavy perfume and anticipation was at Viola's church," says Mason. It was not long before Mason discovered blues music and the bridge between praising and rocking.

As a quiet teen, Mason spent his free time listening to blues records -- one of the first was Muddy Waters' "Hard Again." That same year the album's producer Johnny Winter and harp contributor James Cotton came through to play separate shows at Colorado College. "I was pretty well floored by those two shows. I finally came to when Cotton's guitar player asked me if everything was alright and I realized that I was the only person left in the theater, still staring up at the stage." Columbia's release of the "Complete Robert Johnson" when Mason was 15 led to a particular fascination and relationship with solo country blues artists that suited his then shy style.

Holding his burgeoning musical talent close to his chest, Mason headed to Vermont to pursue a degree in conservation biology. It was in college where Mason met fellow blues devotee and gifted multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hundt, now a member of Nick Moss and the Flip Tops, and began playing live shows. But it was his first job working for a military contractor in Germany that led Mason to consider music as a full-time pursuit. "The job was rough and boring, but the nights were a blast, busking for people far away from the Army life." The streets of Dutch, French and German cities were the perfect places to develop his distinctive style and stage presence.

The street also played a critical role in the development of his one-man band show. After winning the Telluride Acoustic Blues Competition in 2001, Mason was hired back to teach slide guitar at the festival's guitar camp. It was through the Telluride Blues and Brews festival that Mason developed his passion for teaching and met and came under the influence of contemporary luminaries Taj Mahal, John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Anders Osborne and Richard Johnston.

"At Telluride, Richard invited me out to play with him in Memphis on Beale Street and I took him up on the offer. It was a steamy Thursday night in June and Rick gathered a crowd, something he's really good at, then introduced me and promptly left the drum stool. My acoustic instrument was still de-tuned from the trip so the only option was Richard's drum rig and Lowebow. So I hopped on." Mason made enough that weekend trading sets with Johnston to pay for his hotel, meals and airfare, but more importantly found a vehicle to express the electrified, deep country blues sound he heard in his head.

Since then Mason has performed with BB King, James Cotton, John Mayall, Jimmie Vaughan, The Yardbirds, John Hammond, Robben Ford, Bob Margolin, Kelly Joe Phelps, Joan Osborne, Otis Taylor, Carolyn Wonderland, Will Hoge, Rose Hill Drive, The White Buffalo, Shemekia Copeland, Johnny A., Bugs Henderson, and the man Mason calls "the King," Robert Belfour.
Town and Country caps off what was an important and clarifying year for Mason. He began 2007 by organizing and leading a two-week trip for 18 High School students to visit the Mississippi Delta, Memphis and New Orleans and interact with musicians and historians there. He then returned home to prepare for the birth of his daughter and stuck close to family through the summer while playing steady gigs in Colorado and working out tunes for the new album. Recording, mixing and mastering the album were finished in September. Then in October he traveled to Helena, AR to make his third appearance at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival where in 2004 he had won the title of "Most Promising Emerging Artist."

Label Type: Unsigned
Band Members: John-Alex Mason- One man trio...!
Hometown: Colorado
Country: United States
Albums:
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Recent Activity  
mason943 favorited a video (6 months ago)
Here is "The twelve days of hockey", sung to the tune of 12 da...   more
 
Up Jumped Belguim
4:29
[TRANSLATED] Up Jumped Belguim
[TRANSLATED] Up Jumped Belguim
John-Alex Mason, performing Robert Johnson's up jumped the devil at a Blues fest i...
1 year ago 1,067 views mason943
Shake 'em on Down
5:25
[TRANSLATED] Shake 'em on Down
[TRANSLATED] Shake 'em on Down
John-Alex Mason live at Swallow Hill Denver, CO Part II
2 years ago 4,811 views mason943
Go back Joe
4:39
[TRANSLATED] Go back Joe
[TRANSLATED] Go back Joe
John-Alex Mason opening for Joe Bonamassa at the Bluedbird Theater in Denver,CO.
1 year ago 2,547 views mason943
Stay All Night
5:07
[TRANSLATED] Stay All Night
[TRANSLATED] Stay All Night
On the one man band rig playing Junior Kimbrough. Enjoy!
2 years ago 12,646 views mason943
John-Alex Mason - One Man Band
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Playing footdrums, LoweBow and Singing a bit of Robert Johnson's Up Jumped the Dev...
2 years ago 29,207 views mason943
Locomotive w/ the Kingsnakes
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John-Alex Mason performing in Holland with The Kingsnakes.
1 year ago 933 views mason943
John-Alex Mason & the Pea Vine Line - Locomotive
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Opening for BB King, 10/18/05. John-Alex Mason - Guitar, Vocals Ronnie Shellist ...
2 years ago 5,608 views mason943
John-Alex Mason - Time Will Come at Swallow Hill
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Slide Guitar Performance by John-Alex Mason at Swallow Hill in Denver. Time Will ...
3 years ago 10,074 views mason943
Ocotber 2008- Video Newsletter
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Features tunes from my run in Grapes of Wrath, produced by Theater Works...
8 months ago 105 views mason943
12 Days of Hockey - 80s Christmas tune
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Here is "The twelve days of hockey", sung to the tune of 12 days of Christmas. Pr...
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This is a music video we made for the late and incredible, Junior Kimbrough. One ...
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Kingsnakes & John-Alex Mason & Dirk van Duijn
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Kingsnakes & John-Alex Mason & Dirk van Duijn Poppodium Noordwijk nov 2006
2 years ago 766 views Lemaire5
4 Year Old Djembe Drummer
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Isaiah Chevrier from www.rootsyrecords.com play solo djembe.
3 years ago 886,903 views rootsymali
One-Handed 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube solve (20.09 seconds solve)
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Would you hire these guys to perform?  You can.
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Learn to blow harmonica like this from me. I'm selling instructional dvds and blu...
2 years ago 24,034 views RonnieShellist
Spoon Slide Guitar
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[TRANSLATED] Spoon Slide Guitar
[TRANSLATED] Spoon Slide Guitar
Hannes Coetzee - Herbertsdale - Klein Karoo.
3 years ago 231,246 views cb18201
Channel Comments (5)
dancedance169 (4 months ago)
Hi mason. you rock. my friend alex mason loves you and you have the same name. come perform in vancouver for his birthday.he would be so happy as he does not have many friends so this would make him VERY happy. thanks.
keep rockin one man band.
johnnyfnhollywood (1 year ago)
Rock and Roll !
DaMan227 (2 years ago)
Check out the 2 man band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYIH3qTKKk
Clereece (2 years ago)
Big John: My apologies- think my comment got screwed up ... unless you have somehow marked them as private ? ( still pretty new to Youtube so havent figured out everything) - please delete first comment if I did screw up :P
Just wanted you to know I submitted your one-man band video to the Pepsi 9 countdown page. Hope they select it ...
Clereece (2 years ago)
Hi Big John: I thought you might liketo know that I submitted the website URL for your one-man band video to the Pepsi 9 countdown site ( http://9.yahoo.com/ ) They select 9 of the coolest websites 5 days of the week. It is how I came across Youtube. I hope your link makes the cut and you get lots of the attention your music deserves ...