Mason Williams & Friends Symphonic Bluegrass concert,
Bluegrassical Gas, features long-time country,
bluegrass and traditional American music band members.

An evening with Mason Williams & Friends is an eclectic spectrum of music that has evolved over several years of performing with some of America's finest orchestras. The program consists of folk songs, traditional fiddle tunes, country music classics, original compositions by Mason and other band members, and Mason's unique symphony pops hybrid, Symphonic Bluegrass. The band's elaborate and unusual arrangements of popular classics such as Ghost Riders In The Sky, The Devil's Dream and Faded Love are a big hit with country music fans and traditionalists alike.

Mason also performs his three-time Grammy Award winner Classical Gas along with some other oldies-but-goodies from his recording and television days in Hollywood. He also recites a couple of his “Them Poems” longtime favorites with the audience, and what may come as a surprise to many, sings several songs, which are enthusiastically received.

Other features in the show include:

Three-time National Fiddle Champion Byron Berline, displaying the virtuosity that has established him as a major recoding star who has played on over one hundreed albums and soundtracks with some of the world's most famous music and film stars.

Guitarist and singer/sonwriter Rick Cunha, performing his hit tune Yo-Yo Man, a character immortalized in recent years on television by The Smothers Brothers.

John Hickman, whose five-string banjo wizardry along with Jerry Mills' consumate command of the mandolin rings true-blue to the roots of bluegrass and traditional music.

Hal Blaine, the most recorded musician in pop music history, continues to drum into you just why he is considered to be one of the world's greatest. (Over 35,000 sessions and 200 gold records to his credit.)

Singer/songwriter, Doug Haywood covers the bottom musically as the group's bass player, and the top vocally as the tenor in the group vocals.

And, on occasion, Byron Berline's nepyhew from Winfield, Kansas, bones player Barry Patton. His virtuosity on the cowboy castinets and his downhome character steals the show everytime.

It is a divers, up-beat, show for the whole family with a warm glow and an after smile perfect for a Summer?s night or any other time of year.

SAMPLE PROGRAM:

FIRST HALF
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Cotton Eyed Joe
Peeblefyster Rag
The Old Cane Press
The Devil?s Dream
Smothers Brothers Theme & Variations
Clinging To The Edge of The World
Rose of San Antone
Dixie Darling
Sunflower
Classical Gas

SECOND HALF
Steve's Jig
Country Idyll
Shenandoah
Ragtime Annie
The Tennessee Stud
Skippin Along on Top
Fiddle Faddle
Sally Goodin
Faded Love
Monroe's Hornpipe
Ghost Riders in the Sky
Fresh Fish

Other shows by Mason Williams & Friends:

"Of Time & Rivers Flowing" Concert
"A Gift of Song" Holiday Concert
Mason Williams & Friends Popular Music