{"id":10426,"date":"2026-04-22T13:55:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/traffics-dave-mason-has-died-aged-79-154319\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:55:40","slug":"traffics-dave-mason-has-died-aged-79-154319","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/traffics-dave-mason-has-died-aged-79-154319\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic\u2019s Dave Mason has died, aged 79"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dave Mason\u2019s tenure with Traffic, the band he co-founded as guitarist and co-singer in 1967, was always somewhat precarious. Overwhelmed by scoring a major UK hit with \u201cHole In My Shoe\u201d \u2013 \u201cIt was the first song I ever wrote,\u201d Mason told Uncut in 2008 \u2013 he initially quit in December \u201967, just prior to the release of the psych-rock adventurers\u2019 debut Mr Fantasy<\/em>. \u201cI couldn\u2019t deal with the success,\u201d he continued. \u201cI had no life experience, so I thought I\u2019d better get some.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dave Mason\u2019s tenure with Traffic, the band he co-founded as guitarist and co-singer in 1967, was always somewhat precarious. Overwhelmed by scoring a major UK hit with \u201cHole In My Shoe\u201d \u2013 \u201cIt was the first song I ever wrote,\u201d Mason told Uncut in 2008 \u2013 he initially quit in December \u201967, just prior to the release of the psych-rock adventurers\u2019 debut Mr Fantasy<\/em>. \u201cI couldn\u2019t deal with the success,\u201d he continued. \u201cI had no life experience, so I thought I\u2019d better get some.\u201d<\/p>\n

His answer lay in short-term collaboration. At London\u2019s Olympic Studios, Mason produced Family\u2019s Music In A Doll\u2019s House <\/em>(which included his own \u201cNever Like This\u201d), played shehnai on the Stones\u2019 \u201cStreet Fighting Man\u201d and, during sessions for Jimi Hendrix\u2019s Electric Ladyland<\/em>, added 12-string guitar to \u201cAll Along The Watchtower\u201d and backing vocals to \u201cCrosstown Traffic\u201d. <\/p>\n

By the following spring, Mason had reunited with Traffic for their self-titled second album. His five writing contributions included \u201cYou Can All Join In\u201d and lead single \u201cFeelin\u2019 Alright?\u201d, the latter a two-chord gem that was swiftly popularised by Joe Cocker.<\/p>\n

Before long, though, Mason found himself exiled again, largely due to creative tensions with other members. Steve Winwood complained that he was too pop for a band that sought to freely experiment with folk, jazz and ethno-rock. Mason\u2019s habit of writing alone, as opposed to developing songs from a group jam, was another issue. \u201cThe same thing happened \u2013 my songs were pushed to be the singles,\u201d Mason explained. \u201cI got a call to go over to [label boss] Chris Blackwell\u2019s house in London. Chris [Wood], Jim [Capaldi] and Steve were there. Steve said: \u2018I don\u2019t want you in the group.\u2019 And that was the end of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason would briefly join Traffic for a third (and final) time in the summer of 1971, appearing on live effort Welcome To The Canteen<\/em>. By then, he\u2019d already served as touring member of Delaney & Bonnie, played in an early iteration of Derek And The Dominos and appeared on George Harrison\u2019s All Things Must Pass<\/em>, having previously schooled the ex-Beatle in the art of slide guitar. Mason\u2019s solo career was also underway, beginning with 1970\u2019s gold-selling Alone Together<\/em>, featuring modest Billboard hit, \u201cOnly You Know And I Know\u201d.<\/p>\n

He subsequently spent most of his time in the States, touring and recording as head of a band that included guitarist Jim Krueger, who composed Mason\u2019s biggest US single: 1977\u2019s soft-rock ballad, \u201cWe Just Disagree\u201d. The following year\u2019s Mariposa de Oro <\/em>proved to be his last significant success, with Mason spending the early \u201880s in a contract dispute with former label Columbia and rueing the fact that \u201cI didn\u2019t fit into the business at that point\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mason deviated from solo work to become part of a reconstituted Fleetwood Mac (minus Buckingham and Nicks) for a 1994 tour and the following year\u2019s poorly-received Time<\/em>. In early 1998 he reconvened with Jim Capaldi for dates that yielded Live: The 40,000 Headmen Tour<\/em>. After a 20-year gap, he rediscovered his appetite for solo studio recording with 2008\u2019s 26 Letters 12 Notes<\/em>, followed six years later by Future\u2019s Past<\/em>. The latter saw Mason revisit various songs from his back catalogue, among them several Traffic classics, suggesting that the band was something he continued to hold dear.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, Traffic pointed the way where music could go,\u201d Mason told Uncut. \u201cOur potential was limitless. I always saw us as the British equivalent of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a group with equal partners who musically could go any place they wanted. But then all the other shit just got in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Traffic\u2019s Dave Mason has died, aged 79<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dave Mason\u2019s tenure with Traffic, the band he co-founded as guitarist and co-singer in 1967, was always somewhat precarious. Overwhelmed by scoring a major UK hit with \u201cHole In My…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5930],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}