EDITORIAL REVIEWS
A Gift of Song by Mason Williams

REVIEW
".the album is deftly performed and thoroughly enjoyable. A Gift of Song includes both old-time favorites as well as Williams-penned originals." -- Cash Box Magazine Vol. LVI, No. 11 November 7, 1992

.Unlike a lot of trying Christmas albums, this one wears extremely well on repeated listenings, mainly because of the clever mix of new and old material. The tunes generally are driven by Williams' guitar, sometimes over lush baroque backgrounds and sometimes over slick pop beds. The best part is, there isn't a clunker among them. -- KUGN Radio, November 30, 1992

.the album is deftly performed and thoroughly enjoyable. A Gift of Song includes both old-time favorites as well as Williams-penned originals. -- Cash Box Magazine Vol. LVI, No. 11 November 7, 1992.

An instant bonding between listener and artist is inevitable, as this acoustically rendered, all-instrumental album by Williams celebrates his passionate return to recording. A charming, new classical guitar original, Guitar Carol, is the most welcome gift here. And in keeping with the album's more traditional spirit, Williams' sense of humor recycles his identical arrangement of Greensleeves from 1969 in the retitled What Tune Is This? Williams also prefers not to hog the spotlight, sometimes appearing as a sideman for pianist Art Maddox and guitarist Rick Cunha who feature their tunes. Either way, A Gift of Song glows with excellent musicianship and listenability. -- The Flint Journal, December 4, 1992

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mason Williams Guitarist, Composer, Comedy Writer and Performer Recordings: for Mercury, Liberty, Vee-Jay, Warner Bros., Flying Fish, Skookum, American Gramaphone, Vanguard and Real Music. Most recent: A Gift of Song ('92) Awards: Grammy (2) for Classical Gas (Best Instrumental Theme/Best Performance) ('68). Nominations: Grammy ('70, '71, '88). Writing for TV (comedy/variety): The Smothers Brothers, Steve Martin, Saturday Night Live, Andy Williams, Glen Campbell, Dinah Shore, Roger Miller, Petula Clark, also created Pat Paulsen for President satire ('68) Awards: Emmy Award, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS) ('69). Writers Guild Award All Commercials (Steve Martin) ('81). Nominations: Emmy ('67) ('88), Writers Guild ('75) Books: The Mason Williams Reading Matter, Flavors (Doubleday), FCC Rapport (Liveright), & (11) limited editions. Music Books: Classical Gas - The Music of Mason Williams (CPP Belwin-'93) Art: Bus (life size photo/poster of Greyhound bus), The Pasadena Art Museum ('68)The New York Museum of Modern Art (Word and Image) ('69) Norton Simon Museum ('99). Performances: Coffee houses, clubs, festivals, concerts, concerts with orchestra, and television appearances. Current Concerts: Symphonic Bluegrass/Bluegrassical Gas, Of Time & Rivers Flowing, A Gift of Song (X-Mas), Mason Williams & Friends (pop/Mason Williams originals). In 1988 Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI) the music licensing organization that tracks air play performances on radio and television, presented Mason with a special Citation of Achievement in recognition of the great national and international popularity of Classical Gas. It has logged over three million broadcast performances to become the number one all time instrumental composition for air play in BMI's repertoire, replacing the previous #1 tune, The Theme From Moulin Rouge, by Michele LeGrande, released in 1953.

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