ANDY MASON
Andy W. Mason is an upper Cayuga/Mohawk musician with over 20 yrs. on the stage as either a front-man
hosting shows, actor or back-up musician and session player for other acts. His instruments are primarily
the guitar, but he also plays mandolin, harmonica, drums/percussion, some bass and banjo, and has experimented
with lap steel and dobro. His main strength is his vocals, with approximately a 3 or more octave range. An
accomplished harmony singer (most of the harmonies on his debut CD are his own voice), he has always maintained
his reason for learning to play instruments was to back his singing voice.
He first stepped on stage at the age of seven, singing with a school choir. He taught himself drums, and later
piano and guitar. He sang with other choirs in his youth, developing a pretty keen ear for harmony; most of his
family growing up were also musically inclined or played instruments. Upon leaving home, an older brother introduced
him to musicians and actors in Toronto, like Don Francks, David Campbell, Don Ross, and actor Graham Greene.
IN 1984, he auditioned for and was accepted in K.Y.T.E.S., a unique theatre troupe who wrote their own scripts
rather than perform repertory theatre. They toured Canada in 1985, and were the subject of a film, "K.Y.T.E.S.-
How We Dream Ourselves" by Deepa Mehta and Sunrise Films. The film also featured songs by Andy and his sister
Corine, including the song "Long Walk 49". In 1986, during a jam at a coffeehouse, a naming ceremony commenced,
where Andy was given the name "Kahn-tah-w-wim-tchi-git", which in the Ojibway language means He Who Makes Beautiful
Music, or more simply, Beautiful Music Maker.
He soon met with musicians busking with whom he helped form the CSNY tribute band 4 Way Street. They relocated to
Ottawa, and with an agency, toured Ontario and Quebec, and ventured on their own to the west coast to try their
sound out. They also opened for many major acts along the way, like Five Man Electrical Band, Colin James, Goddo,
Al Stewart, and Barney Bentall. The late great Jeff Healey jumped onstage to jam with them at the Penguin Blues
Club on Canada Day 1994. After eight years they broke up, with co-founding member John Law leaving for B.C. with
his new wife Michelle, who later became known as singer-songwriter duo The Laws.
After playing with a couple of other bands in the Ottawa Valley, he headed west as well, and signed on with an
extra agent. He has appeared as background in numerous films and television including "Out Cold" (film),
"Battlestar Galactica", "The X-Files", and "Masters of Horror" (episode 12).
He has played with numerous bands since, recorded his own CD or sessioned with others. He sessioned for David
Roy Parsons and Joey Only of Joey Only and The Outlaw Band with Raven Hymn Productions, his and David Roy Parsons
project, formed soon after his arrival in Vancouver. His own band, called the Tricksters, played locally at
festivals and clubs, with new and mostly original material. After four years and a change of direction, he
played with the Cornbinders, a country/swing/blues band. He is now going through the process of recording new
material with other writers when possible under a new, un-named as yet group. They will possibly play live the
types of material they all love, the country-rock, canadiana and americana, bluegrass, country/western swing
genres, as well as whatever grabs his and the others fancy. . .
Material from his debut CD, "Long Walk 49", can be heard and requested on Aboriginal Voices Radio at present
(www.aboriginalradio.com). His influences are many, everything from the Beatles, Stevie Wonder and Supertramp
to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Willie Nelson, to name just a few; as well as some country/bluegrass,
the blues, and some Native American music, having participated in powwows both as a drummer/singer and performing
his own music at them. He has, in the last few years, played with or opened for artists such as the late Floyd
"Red Crow" Westerman, Keith Secola, Redbone, Joanne Shenandoah, George Leach, Wayne Lavallee, among others.
BACK
