About Stefan Halley
Location: Malmo, Sweden
Occupation: Editor-in-Chief
Bio: Stefan has been writing reviews for seven years and started Pop Syndicate out of need to voice his mis-guided opinion.
Posts: 719
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A talented artist that just isn’t there yet.
Don’t let the surfer boy look fool you, John-Alex Mason knows how to sing the blues. His pretty boy shaggy blond looks disguise his ability. This Colorado native can belt out the Delta blues like he is born to do it. Mason is able to bring the needed gravitas to the songs but the sum of the parts does not add up to the whole on Town & Country.
Having won numerous awards over the past few years, Mason is bringing his considerable talents to play in Town & Country. There is no deigning that Mason knows what he’s doing. He plays guitar, footdrum and something called the LoewBow, a cigarbox guitar named after Johnny Lowebow made from two oak dowel rods, a wooden cigar box, three guitar strings and a bass string. From the descriptions of his live shows, Mason gives one amazing performance.
On Town & Country, Mason has divided the CD in two. For those of you old enough to remember records or cassette tapes, side A would be “Town” and side B would be “Country”. “Town” has Mason doing his electric one-man band act, while “Country” is all acoustic. He covers the likes of Robert Johnson, Bukka White and Elmore James with ease. When he plays his original songs, which is most of the album, Mason keeps the sound going and makes them sound like the classics. He’s amazingly good.
Still for all his technical proficiencies, Mason is lacking that something that takes a talented player and elevates them into a great player. He’s still young and given a bit more time should be a great player. Town & Country lacks any highs or lows. Individually you can’t deign the talent but after listening to three or four songs, you begin to wonder if can’t change it up a bit. It’s great to have on in the background but it’s not a CD that will have you wanting to listen to it again and again.
I look forward to hearing his future releases. John-Alex Mason has the talent and ability to be one of the new voices in blues music. He needs to bring a little variety to his act. Town & Country shows what a talent Mason is and with a better producer or more experience, he’ll have one hell of a future.
