aww heck R.I.P - Dave Mason

I first heard the news from Bob Dylan’s Fan Club Facebook page who said: It was announced this morning that Dave Mason died on April 19th at 79 years old. Bob performed the song We Just Disagree, written by Jim Krueger and made famous by Mason, at concerts in 1980 and 1981. He played it the first time I saw him live in ‘81. Here’s one rendition (see below)

Bob covers We Just Disagree 1980

https://youtu.be/4DY4IRyrhis

RIP Dave Mason. 

His webpage stated:

 

It is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason. On Sunday, April 19, after cooking an amazing dinner with his beloved wife Winifred, he sat down to take a nap with sweet Star (the maltese) at his feet. He passed away peacefully, in his favorite chair, surrounded by the beautiful Carson Valley that he loved so much. A storybook ending. On his own terms. Which is how he lived his life right up until the end.

He leaves a lasting imprint on the soundtrack of our lives and the hearts he has lifted. His legacy will be cherished forever.  

MAY 10 1946 TO APRIL 19 2026

Dave Mason - 1988-04-06 - Philadelphia, PA USA (FM) | so many roads

 Dave Mason - 1988-04-06 - Philadelphia, PA USA (FM)

Dave Mason

1988-04-06

Chestnut Cabaret

Philadelphia, PA

WMMR-FM Broadcast

01. Feelin' Alright

02. Let It Go, Let It Flow

03. World In Changes

04. Just A Little Lovin'

05. Look At You Look At Me 

06. Two Hearts

07. Every Woman

08. We Just Disagree (cuts in)

09. Dream I Dream

10. Bring It On Home To Me

11. All Along The Watchtower

12. WMMR Break & tuning

13. Only You Know And I Know

14. Dear Mr. Fantasy

15. WMMR outro

Speedy says: 

"Dave Mason entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 as a member of Traffic.  The 2004 class also included George Harrison, Bob Seger, Prince, ZZ Top, and Jackson Browne. Traffic played Dear Mr. Fantasy at the ceremony, while Mason and Steve Winwood also joined in during the all star jam on Feelin' Alright.

This FM broadcast captures Mason out solo at the Chesnut Cabaret in Philadelphia on April 6, 1988, 38 years ago today. Both songs played at the 2004 induction ceremony were also in this set list - a little bit of foreshadowing!"

We love Dave Mason the enigmatic and mercurial songwriter of such masterpieces as Feelin’ Alright, the hit for Joe Cocker, Let it Go Let it Flow, the hit for Eric Clapton + Traffic songs like Dear Mr Fantasy and playing on All Along The Watchtower with Jimi didn’t hurt either but a personal favourite in Only You Know and I Know . . . .enjoy! I did!

For Speedy:

Dave Mason - We Just Disagree 

Dave Mason performing "All Along The Watchtower" at Music City Roots 

live from the Loveless Cafe on 9.25.2013

TRAFFIC - GIMME SOME LOVIN’ - WELCOME TO THE CANTEEN

It used to go like that . . . . . . now it goes like this . . . . . . .if you heard the ARMS concert for Ronnie Lane and heard this new blistering riff and wondered where it came from (Dave Mason?)! . . . here ‘tis

#traffic#welcome to the canteen#gimmie some lovin'#steve winwood#jim capaldi#rick grech#chris wood#jim gordon#dave mason#reebop kwaku baah

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/772504860654501889/traffic-gimme-some-lovin

Dave Mason - We Just Disagree | Top Hat Crew "Live Music Archivists

Dave Mason - We Just Disagree 

 

auther of many great songs and from Traffic to solo efforts the mercurial and eclectic Dave Mason penned this beauty. . . . Top Hat’s version wouldn’t play but it was they who reminded me how wonderful a writer and singer he is  

check ‘em out!

Top Hat Crew's "Live Music Archives"

Those we still miss on their birthdays too | Remembering Joe Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014)

 

Photo: Linda Wolf

FEELIN’ ALRIGHT! 

(Mr David Mason)

Don's Tunes

Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen - Feelin' Alright

Cocker was greatly influenced by musicians such as Ray Charles, Lonny Donegan and others of that ilk. An eager performer debuting at the age of twelve, Cocker soon formed his own band with his school friends. After leaving school, Cocker’s dreams suffered a setback, as in order to survive in the real world, he had to take up a job as a gas fitter.

However, his passion couldn’t be suppressed for long. In 1961, he promptly formed another group called Vance Arnold and the Avengers and started doing small gigs in various pubs. The name Vance Arnold was influenced by an amalgamation of Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock character and the celebrated country singer Eddie Arnold. The music the group performed were mainly covers of Chuck Berry and Ray Charles’ songs. His effort to make a mark with the Beatles ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ cover from Decca records in 1964 failed miserably and, ultimately, made him far more restless. He yet again formed a new band called the Joe Cocker’s Blues Band after dissolving the former one. This constant cycle of making and breaking up a group can be seen as Cocker’s effort to create something original, something defining.

 In 1968 Cocker got what he was running after for years, his first commercial breakthrough with the cover song ‘With the Little Help from My Friends’. What followed this success was years of aggressive touring in different countries which Cocker, perhaps predictably, soon got tired of.

Paul McCartney, while talking about the cover after Cocker’s death, said: “He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and, like many people, I loved his singing. I was especially pleased when he decided to cover “With a Little Help from My Friends” and I remember him and (producer) Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Savile Row  and playing me what they’d recorded and it was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful to him for doing that.”

Pubali Dasgupta / Far Out

The Letter - Joe Cocker Mad Dogs Tour

Thanks as ever to Don Draper’s Tunes for the reminder . .

Dave Mason - Belmont Park, Elmont, NY - 1978-07-08 - (FM) | So Many Roads

Dave Mason - Elmont New York 1978 - So Many Roads

Now I have a sneaking regard for Dave Mason and he is an intriguing figure to me. I think he might be a wizard! Considered something of a ‘sideman' for Traffic and an iconoclast involved in multiple projects and friendships. If you wanted a multi talented multi-instrumentalist you called on Mason! From Traffic and his solo work to playing with (everyone?*) loads of other folks from Jimi onwards he remained something of an underachiever never settling to one thing and with a scattergun approach to projects whilst writing classic rock songs like the wonderful ‘Only You Know and I Know’ a personal favourite. [check the version out here!] He wrote the novelty hit 'Hole in My Shoe' for Traffic and the rock classic ‘Feelin Alright!’ In later life he started a company making guitars! He is still very active promoting yoga and children in music and is actively supportive of projects around peoples recovery from addiction and he plays and tours still and is 77. (check out his Wicki entry if you don’t believe me!)

I think he was and acted as a catalyst, an enabler (in the best of senses) so that he wielded a kind of musical magic and remained under appreciated . . . . . . play this and TURN IT UP!

*Paul McCartney, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Steve Winwood, Fleetwood Mac, Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, and Cass Elliot.

This is great and Dave Mason in his prime

Dave Mason performing "Only You Know And I Know” 

at Music City Roots live from the Loveless Cafe on 9.25.2013

Dave and Jim Krueger - All Along The Watchtower

• Feelin' Alright
• Joe Cocker

A fine song from Mr Dave Mason [Traffic] and imagine if you can what it must have been like to hear Joe cover one of your songs . . . . . . . . an all time favourite 

If you do one thing today make sure you download this!

DAVE MASON - Hartford CT 2017

from Big O

Dave Mason link

Hall of Fame legend Dave Mason (Traffic alumni et al) has written some of my favourite songs notably the ubiquitous 'Feelin' Alright' and my preferred song 'Only You Know and I Know' which I love but here with his tight as a gnat's chuff band and proof if any were needed that some folks from the sixties have not shot their voice to hell, Dave Mason at his best.

 Great quality ROIO ripped from PBS broadcast 

Lineup:

Dave Mason - vocals, guitar
Alvino Bennett - drums
Tony Pattler - keyboards, bass, vocals
Johnnie Sambataro - guitar, vocals

Dave Mason.com

Check out Dave's guest appearance history . . . . . hint: for example it starts with Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland, The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet and George Harrison's: All Things Must pass . . . . . . . oh and Lily The Pink by The Scaffold!

here