Local Blues Band Mason Launches Its Sophomore Album
The blues come in many flavors and tones, from the muddy depths of Skip James’s “Devil Got My Woman” to the soaring heights of Henry Thomas’s “Bulldozer Blues” all down the line to the blistering Stones and Winters and Wolfs—Howling and Peter, that is. There’s the bouncing lilt of Freddie King’s “Get Out of My Life, Woman,” the bright top notes of B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” the rumbling menace of Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign”—and that’s just the Kings. It’s a genre that forgives experimentation while valuing tradition, one that eludes easy definition but that, as the saying goes, you know when you hear it.
When you hear Mason, you’ve landed on the more modern variations on the form. The band’s second album, My Kind of Trouble, hints at pyrotechnical origins: “Electric Kisses” has undertones of Hendrix, “Hey Sally” of the Clapton-era Delaney & Bonnie, back in the days before Clapton turned into a paleocon antivaxxer, that is. But, nodding to the ancestors aside, the album is also a fresh take on blues rock, supported by virtuoso musicianship and smart songwriting chops. So surefooted are Mason that they recorded most of the 11 songs on the album in a single take, laying them down in two live sessions of 4–5 hours apiece at Waterworks Studios here in Tucson.
The quartet’s pedigree isn’t that of your ordinary barroom blues band. Jacob Acosta, lead guitarist and vocalist, started out as a jazz saxophonist but then, while attending school on the East Coast, picked up a guitar and began writing songs. Returning to Tucson, he took a degree in music education while founding bands devoted to alt rock, shoegaze, acoustic rock, Americana, and, of course, blues while teaming up with deep house artists and, to date, releasing 16 albums. “I love constantly having my music interest and styles evolve,” says Acosta, and his résumé proves the point.
His bandmates are just as versatile. Drummer Andre Gressieux has played in symphonies and off-Broadway in a production of Pippin, as well as in a long string of bands. Like Acosta, he switched instruments, starting off on violin before picking up the drumsticks. Barry Young, the band’s bassist, was a trumpeter at first and didn’t find his first four-string until he hit 30, when he took off with a range of bands playing grunge, desert rock, metal, and prog. Jason Allen, who plays rhythm guitar, played piano, trumpet, and even marching-band tuba before settling on bass and, after moving to Tucson in 2011, joining Acosta in various musical configurations.
The group makes a righteous racket, and, as Acosta points out, isn’t confined to the blues—indeed, My Kind of Trouble includes hints of surf, sixties rock, and even reggae, though never losing the thread that runs back to three chords and the truth. They’ll be celebrating the release of the CD at 7:00 pm (doors open at 6:00 pm) on September 9 at Hotel Congress (311 E. Congress). Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Tom Walbank opens. Promises Acosta, “Our sound goes best with a little bit of pageantry and fun, and if you come out, you’ll see we throw a good party.”
Category: The Scoop
