BEN MASON …artist… musician… author
Ben lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, on the site of a 3000 year old Indian village. He creates his songs, art and stories on sacred land, and feels the passage of those who came before him in the stone tools, jasper arrowheads, and clay pottery rising from the Thornton river that runs through his property.
Ben released his fourth CD, Flesh and Bone, in February, 2018. The album features Steuart Smith from The Eagles, as well as Steve Van Dam and Nate Brown of the band, Everything. Flesh and Bone displays Ben’s artwork and lyrics in a 16-page booklet, which comes with the CD. Sunshine, the first single from Flesh and Bone is enjoying airplay in the US and Canada as well as Great Britain. Ben has enjoyed promotion of the record with multiple interviews on I Heart Radio and various FM stations.
Ben has been a performing musician in the DC area since the 70’s. He’s played the Birchmere, Jiffy Lube Live, the Cellar Door, Blues Alley, the Bayou, The Kennedy Center, Baltimore Civic Center and many venues now long gone. He opened for Billy Ray Cyrus in Washington, DC before 80,000 people for Rolling Thunder and he returned to their stage again from 2015 through 2019, where crowds of 40,000 people gather at the Lincoln Memorial. Ben was on Lifesong Records, ( Jim Croce ), RCA Sunberry/ Dunbar, was signed to Nashville’s Cedarwood Publishing as a writer, has appeared as a musical guest on The Today Show, written two nationally aired film scores for NBC television documentaries, was the Grand Prize winner in the 10th Annual Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest, has appeared on over 100 albums and been involved in too many inane jingles, appeared as the opening act or recorded with Foreigner, Styx, Don Felder, Steve Laurie of The Hollies, The Dillards, Poco, Rick Derringer, Steuart Smith of The Eagles, Bo Diddly, Gary US Bonds, Dave Mason, Chuck Woolery, Mary Chapin Carpenter and John Cougar Mellencamp. His first solo album, River Deep In Me was produced by John Jennings, who also produced Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Ben released two other solo albums, 48 States of Love and Loveland which include songs which are featured in the film Recludere and on MSNBC’s show Juvies. CBS The Young And Restless have used two of his songs, I Can’t Make You and The Only One in recent shows, and Disney licensed Every One of Us for a yet to be released movie. Ben is signed to a publisher in LA who works exclusively in television and film and was the force behind CBS Music for 12 years. Ben sings the closing song on Maybe By Next Year, a Kid Pan Alley CD released in 2022, which also features musicians who play in the Robert Plant Band, Kenny Loggings Band, Bruce Hornsby Band, Dave Matthews Band, Bella Fleck and The Flecktones, as well as with Quincy Jones and Miles Davis. In January/February 2023 American Songwriter Magazine awarded Ben third place in its lyric contest, out of several thousand entries for his song, Love Was A Lie.
He continues to record, playing piano and singing songs he’s written about his life and the world around him. Ben is also a mixed media constructionist, creating and selling works of art that can be seen on his web site. His memoir, “Sex, Trucks, and Rock ‘n Roll…A Spiritual Journey” was released on January 30, 2024 by W Brand Publishing in Nashville. It has received great reviews from Publishers Weekly/BookLife, BookTrib and 5 out of 5 stars from NetGalley. It spans fifty years of his life, from his transition as a touring rocker to the founder of a moving company and an artistic repair business, while his spiritual awakening led him to fatherhood and the sacred land he lives on in Virginia. He was invited to represent Indie Authors at the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books. His memoir was also chosen to represent independent authors for the 2025 Tucson Festival of Books on March 15 and 16, 2025.
His website is www.benmasonexperience.com
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