Mason Williams
Biography
Classical Gas: the most influential, most played and most loved instrumental anthem of all time.
We could stop right here but that popularly defining work barely scratches the surface of this legendary performer. His own brief bio offers the following bare bones jaw dropping resume:
"I’ve recorded and released 7 singles, 24 albums, and 2 EPs. I’ve written 250 songs, half of which are pretty good, one of which, Classical Gas is apparently really good. I’ve played at least 1,000 gigs in a lot of different places. I’ve written well over 1,000 poems plus a bunch of other stuff and created bunches of art too, published 16 literary/art books and 5 music books, written 174 hours of broadcast television (and even more hours of unbroadcastable television), received 11 awards and 8 nominations. That's it for me."
Awesome.
Discography
Needless to say, it is simply impossible to list the entire catalogue of this prolific legend in the space available here. Here is a randomly selected list:
- Little Billy Blue Shoes/Run Come See (45 RPM) 1960
- Songs of the Blue and Grey 1961
- Away All Boats (EP) 1962
- The Twelve-String Story Vol I & II (Anthology) 1963
- Folk Baroque 1963
- Them Poems 1964
- Love Are Wine/The Exciting Accident (45 RPM) 1966
- The Mason Williams Phonograph Record 1968
Contains the most popular and well-known hit single of "Classical Gas." - Music 1969
- Handmade 1970
- Sharepickers 1971
- Of Time & Rivers Flowing 1984
- Classical Gas - Mason Williams & Manheim Steamroller 1987
- Music 1968 - 1971
- A Gift of Song 1992
- Rock Instrumental Classics Vol. 2 The Sixties 1994
- Fiddle & A Song 1995
- Of Time & Rivers Flowing 1996
featuring Don Ross on guitar - Mason Williams EP 2003:
- Electrical Gas Mason Williams & Zoe McCulloch 2005
Performance Highlights
Albums/Labels: Song of the Blue & The Grey/Mercury (’60), Big Hootenanny/In Records (’63) More Hootenanny /Crown Records (’63), Twelve-String Story, Vol. I & II, Banjo Story/Horizon (’63), 5-string Banjo Greats/Liberty, Them Poems/Vee-Jay (’64), Mason Williams Phonograph Record, Mason Williams Ear Show, Music, Handmade, Sharepickers/Warner Bros. (’68-’71), Fresh Fish/Flying Fish (‘78), Of Time & Rivers Flowing/Skookum (‘84), Classical Gas/American Gramaphone (‘87), Music 1968–1971/ Vanguard, A Gift of Song/Real Music (‘92). Mason Williams EP 2003, Electrical Gas/Skookum (’03-’05)
Awards: Grammy (2) for Classical Gas (Best Instrumental Theme/Best Performance) (’68).
Nominations: Grammy (’70, ’71, ’88, ‘04).
Acknowledgements: In 2007 Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI) the music licensing organization that tracks air play performances on radio and television, presented Mason with a special Citation of Achievement in recognition of the great national and international popularity of Classical Gas. It has logged over six million broadcast performances and is the number one all time instrumental composition for air play in BMI’s repertoire.
Writing for TV (comedy/variety): Roger Miller (‘66), The Smothers Brothers (’67, ’68, ’69, ’74, ’80, ’87, ’88) also created Pat Paulsen for President satire (’68), Petula Clark (’68), Andy Williams (’68), Glen Campbell (’69), Dinah Shore (’79), Steve Martin (‘80), Saturday Night Live (‘80).
Awards: Emmy Award, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS) (’69). Writers Guild Award All Commercials (Steve Martin) (’81).
Nominations: Emmy (’67) (’88), Writers Guild (’75)
Books: The Mason Williams Reading Matter (‘69), Flavors (Doubleday – ‘70), The MW FCC Rapport (Liveright – ‘70), & (11) limited editions. Them Poems (Parallel Press - ‘00) Music Books: Classical Gas - The Music of Mason Williams (CPP Belwin -’93) Second Edition (Warner Bros. - ’03)
Art: Sunflower (Skywriting art project – ‘67) Bus (life size photo/poster of Greyhound bus), Exhibitions: The Pasadena Art Museum (‘68) The New York Museum of Modern Art (Word and Image) (’69) Norton Simon Museum (‘99) Museum of Contemporary Art, LA (’07-’08).
Performances: Coffee houses, clubs, festivals, concerts, concerts with orchestra, and television appearances. Thematic Concerts: Symphonic Bluegrass/Bluegrassical Gas (’74-‘02), Of Time & Rivers Flowing (’82-’99), A Gift of Song (Christmas ’92-’00), Mason Williams & Friends (Folk/Pop - Mason Williams original songs and music ’59-‘03).
Mason’s broad palette of writing, composing and performing in a variety of venues continues to this day. He has is also begun working with several up and coming artists on new recording projects.
Mason Williams web site
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