Mason Williams - Biography
By J Poet
Mason Williams is a guitar player and songwriter with two Grammy wins, an Emmy winning TV scriptwriter, photographer, poet and comedian. He’s best known for his mega-hit “Classical Gas” which won Grammys for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Performance in 1968. (The tune also won a Best Arrangement Grammy for Mike Post who went on to write TV themes for LA Law, Hill Street Blues, and Law and Order.) His long career includes a stint in the Wayfarers folk group, comedy writing gigs for the Smothers Brothers and Steve Martin and a photo of a Greyhound bus that’s on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Williams was born in Abilene, Texas in 1938. When his parents broke up he divided his time between Oklahoma and Oregon. At Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City he created an a capella quartet called The Imperials (later The Lamplighters) that sang pop and rock hits. He moved to LA to attend Los Angeles City College as a math major, but spent most of his time at jazz clubs. He dropped math for music and majored in music at Oklahoma City University where he studied piano, flute and stand up bass. He started learning guitar on his own when he was 20. After learning folk, flamenco and blues licks he started a trio that became The Wayfarers Trio. The group cut several albums before breaking up.
Williams continued playing guitar and singing in folk clubs during the early 60s. He learned banjo and reformed The Wayfarers Trio with two new players in 1960. In 1961 he had a duo with Mike Settle, who went on to play in The First Edition, Kenny Rogers’ first band. he was called to active duty by his Naval Reserve unit and got posted to San Diego where he formed The Hootenaires. He made his first instrumental albums in 1962 - The 12-String Story, Vol. 1 and 2 (1962 Horizon) and The Banjo Story (1962 Horizon.) After he left the Navy he played the California folk circuit and got a publishing deal with Davon Music. He had tunes covered by The Kingston Trio, Glenn Yarbrough and other acts. The Kingston’s rendition of “Them Poems” got Williams a deal with Vee Jay Records who released an album of his novelty songs also called Them Poems (1964 Vee Jay.)
When The Smothers Brothers heard “Them Poems” the hired him to write songs for them, and used several on Tour de Farce (1964 Mercury.) When the brothers got their own TV show in 1965 they hired Williams to write for them. In 1966 Roger Miller (“Dang Me,” “King of the Road”) hired Williams for his short-lived TV variety show. In 1967 he got an Emmy for his work on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and his photo “Bus” was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. (It later became part of their permanent collection.) In 1968 he cut The Mason Williams Phonograph Record (Warner) an odd combination of comedy, folk music and instrumental pieces. “Classical Gas” became a Grammy winning hit, although the album didn’t go gold until 1991. The Mason Williams Ear Show (1968 Warner) was another combination of disparate styles. Music (1969 Warner) was more straightforward and featured Williams’ fine guitar work: its first single, “Greensleeves,” topped the Easy Listing charts.
In 69 he created the Pat Paulsen for President campaign for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and won another Emmy for his efforts. He also put a band together to perform his music. He toured and cut and Handmade (1970 Warner) and Sharepickers (1971 Warner.) In 72 he quit the music business and moved to Santa Fe, where he mastered bluegrass guitar. He came back with a new band and new album Fresh Fish (1978 Flying Fish) a fusion of bluegrass and symphony orchestra that he’d already perfected with his “Symphonic Bluegrass” concerts in Denver and Oklahoma City.
In 1981 he became the head writer for Saturday Night Live. In 1984 he started his own label to release Of Time and Rivers Flowing (1984 Skookum) music he composed to shine a light on the damage humans were doing to the waterways of the Western states. He collaborated with Mannheim Steamroller on an album of his hits Classical Gas (1987 American Gramaphone) which quickly went Gold and closed 1987 playing with Ken Kesey at the Grateful Dead’s New Years Eve Celebration at the Oakland Coliseum. The single from the Mannheim Steamroller collaboration, “Country Idyll,” was nominated for a Best Country Instrumental Performance Grammy in 1988, but didn’t win. A Gift of Song (1992 Real Music), Williams first Christmas album, got universal raves for its warm, acoustic vibe, which led to producing annual Christmas Concerts for The Eugene Symphony in Oregon.
Williams received an Honorary Doctor of Music from Oklahoma City University in 1996. In 1998 BMI presented a special Citation of Achievement in recognition of the three million broadcast performances of “Classical Gas” making it the number one all time instrumental composition for air play. “Classical Gas” has also been featured on episodes of The Simpsons, Frasier and The Sopranos.
His most recent recordings are The Mason Williams EP 2003: Music for the Epicurean Harkener (2003 Skookum) which won a Grammy nod for Best Pop Instrumental Album and Electrical Gas (2005 Skookum) another reworking of his best-known hits.