MASON, PAT

Pat Mason, unidentified musician, Alma Mason, 1953, at his Wagon Wheel Park dancehall.

Homebase: Seaside, OR.
Stats: 1907- 2001
Misc  Notes: Seldon "Pat" Mason
SEE ALSO:

1.) ERLANDSON  - ANNIE BEDSPRINGS - PAT MASON, BOB

PAT MASON:  "I was born on October 26, 1907 in Boise, Idaho. For the first fifteen years of my life, I lived on a ranch by the Yakima Indian Reservation. I went to Mountain Brook school and graduated from the 8th grade, and then ran away from home because my Dad wouldn't let me go to high school. I went to Longbeach, California.

I started booking bands in the 1950s. Then I started working out of Nashville and I booked all the major country acts at that particular time and sang with some of them. I also booked Roy Orbison and I sang backup with him and really liked him. I really like Marty Robins and others that did other stuff that wasn't strictly country. He was only 14 years old then - he was working in front of Ernest Tubbs record shop and singing to draw attention to the shop. Ernest Tubbs asked me to take Elvis out on the road to get him some experience. So I took Elvis with me and at that time we were doing theater dates only. Hank Thompson was the lead singer and Harley Duff was the second one on the program and we just threw Elvis in as a little extra. But he sure did wow the people even then.

In the Meantime I was doing some things for myself and doing some singing and it finally got to the point where it was taking up too much of my time - traveling and stuff like that. So I just gave up on it and came back here to Seaside. I was the first person to book Johnny Cash in the northwest. At that time he was wearing a zoo suit and a long chain and everything and he certainly went over big with the crowds then. Later on in Johnny's life, I booked a lot of dates with him and we became good friends. I thought Johnny was a really good entertainer. He likes people and he likes to work, and he's a good guy. I also booked Jerry Lee Lewis a lot of dates - he was a really good performer, kind of wild and hard to handle, but we got a long good.

A few of the artists I worked on the road with were George Jones, he was a really good artist, worked quite a few dates with him, worked a lot of dates with Dorsey Burnette and he had a song called "Tall Oak Tree" at that time, worked a lot of dates with him, Dorsey was a good entertainer. Then there was Bobby Bare and he had a lot of good songs and worked a lot of dates with him on the road. At that particular time he had "Detroit City" and "500 Miles" and had a lot of other good ones. Bobby was a really nice guy and a good singer. Worked with Bobby Helms and at that time he had a song called "Fraulein" which was going over good - worked about 10 days with him on the road. Then I booked Johnny Horton and he had "Honky Tonk Man" and "Battle of New Orleans"...

I then booked Bill Haley. Bill Haley was a good entertainer - but he hadn't had a lot of experience on the road and also it might surprise you to learn he had a very mild voice and when he sang he had to get right up close to the microphone. He had "Rock Around The Clock" at that time and sold a lot of records. It was a pleasure working with him. I worked with another country artist along about that time, called Ray Price, another good artist and enjoyed working. I then worked a lot of dates with Carl Smith and ...Then I worked a lot of dates with T. Texas Tyler. Then I started working dates with Johnny Cash. I worked an awful lot of dates with him on the road and I started out with him when he wore a zoot suit and he was doing impressions of Elvis Presley on stage and things like that. Then there was Lefty Frizzell - he was a good entertainer too. Hank Snow was a good entertainer, he had a song called "Rainbow at Midnight", booked a lot of dates with him. Then came Sons of the Pioneers - and I worked quite a few dates with them, they were good entertainers and they kept that band together for quite a long time.

Johnny Horton - worked quite a few dates with him on the road, he had a song called "Battle of New Orleans", and it was a good one. He went over good with the people. Judy Lynn, she was the yodeling champ of Idaho. Worked quite a few dates with her. Worked a lot of dates with Ferlin Husky and Jean Shepard. At that particular time they had a record called "Dear John". And then there was Del Woods, a piano player and singer. Wade Ray and the Ozark Mountain Boys. Then there was Sonny James who had a record "Young Love", really hot record at that particular time. Ann Jones was a good singer and real good entertainer. She had a good song out at that time about - "...you gotta love your mama every day..." worked a lot of dates with her. I booked a lot of dates on Lorrie and Larry Collins - they were a very young duo, brother and sister, went over well with people. Then I worked with Hank Thompson, worked on the road with him a good many days. He had a song called "Candy Kisses" that was really a big one back in those days.

Then I started working with Willie Nelson, he and I were disc jockeys together on radio station KVAN (Vancouver, WA) - this was before Willie ever wrote or made a song himself. He was doing others peoples stuff. At that particular time he was singing in a band and I sang with him and some of the other guys. I got interested in doing a record of my own and made a rockabilly record called "Big Foot Wiggle."

I took on Gene Vincent after he had had management problems and moved into Seaside. He stayed here two years and in that time I booked him all over the country and even over the world. I booked his dates in France and England, etc. At that particular time he had a guitar player named Jerry Merritt and they got along well together. I sent Gene to Japan and he did quite well. Then I got interested in another group and started booking them and moved Gene to Los Angeles and that's where he stayed.

I also booked all of the black performers such as the Drifters, the Coasters, and the Inkspots, Fats Domino and Little Richards. I worked quite a bit with them on the road. Then I got with a guy and we put together a band called Paul Revere and The Raiders. We were working in the northwest and I took Paul around all over and we were doing fine. I had a friend Dick Clark who called and said they were going to shoot a show on national television, so I took Paul Revere and the Raiders and we shot the show up on Bear Mountain and they were a big success and everything went great from then on.

I don't know if you would be interested in all of this, but I just wanted to show you all what the life of a booker must have been like - what I had been doing for years and years and years on the road and off of the road, it was kind of a hectic life, but I enjoyed it." [ Interview extractions adapted from rockabillyhall.com website]

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