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For seven decades, the music of Dave Mason has left us “feelin’ alright” (no question mark necessary).  The singer, songwriter, guitarist, and Traffic co-founder weathered the changing musical tides well into the 21st century, playing his final concert on August 18, 2024 in Plainfield, Indiana as he celebrated the release of a memoir titled after one of his most famed songs, Only You Know and I Know.  Mason’s death was announced yesterday, just weeks shy of what would have been his 80th birthday.

Mason co-founded Traffic in Birmingham – about 30 miles away from his hometown of Worcester, England – with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood.  Though ostensibly recording in a psych-rock mode, Traffic quickly distinguished itself with improvisational jazz textures in service of sturdy compositions penned by the bandmates.  Signed to Island Records, Traffic enjoyed success from the start with “Paper Sun” followed by “Hole in My Shoe” and “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,” all three of which reached the top five of the U.K. Singles Chart in 1967.  The following year’s “Feelin’ Alright?” (penned, like “Hole in My Shoe,” by the solo Mason) didn’t make much of a splash in Traffic’s original recording, but it soon attracted cover versions by the diverse likes of Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night, Rare Earth, Lulu, Mongo Santamaria, Lou Rawls, The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Jackson 5, Diana Ross, and Grand Funk Railroad.  The blend of pop, rock, and soul on “Feelin’ Alright?” would serve Mason well throughout his career.

Mason’s time in Traffic was tumultuous and marked by various comings and goings, but he quickly earned the respect of his fellow musicians.  He played and sang on Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and contributed to The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, Paul McCartney and Wings’ Venus and Mars, Graham Nash’s Songs for Beginners, and Nash and David Crosby’s self-titled Atlantic LP.  He launched his own solo career with 1970’s Alone Together on the Blue Thumb label.  Alone Together welcomed such esteemed players as Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Bonnie Bramlett, Larry Knechtel, Chris Ethridge, and Johnny Barbata, and yielded the hit single “Only You Know and I Know.”  Soon after, Delaney and Bonnie (Bramlett) would cover it on their D&B Together album and fare even better on the charts.  Mason followed up Alone Together with the collaborative LP Dave Mason & Cass Elliot.  Blending country, rock, blues, and pop, it showcased a new side of both artists; Elliot even co-wrote two of its tracks.

The singer-songwriter moved from Blue Thumb to Columbia in 1973, and four years later notched his biggest solo hit with the label.  “We Just Disagree” was written by Jim Krueger, a member of Mason’s band.  A disarming, melodic soft-rock ballad, it reached No. 12 on the Billboard 100 and No. 19 on the AC survey, and remains a radio staple today.  Its success led parent album Let It Flow to earn a Platinum sales certification and become Mason’s biggest LP at Columbia.  1978’s Mariposa de Oro found him returning Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” to the charts, reaffirming his gifts as an interpretive vocalist.  No less a figure than Michael Jackson appeared on Mason’s next and final Columbia album, 1980’s “Save Me.”  He closed out the 1980s with Two Hearts on the MCA label which spun off the hit “Dreams I Dream,” a duet with Phoebe Snow.  In 1995, Mason briefly joined the Nicks and Buckingham-less Fleetwood Mac for the album Time, co-writing the songs “I Wonder Why” and “Blow by Blow.” (Lindsey did sing background vocals on one track.)

In 1998, Mason reunited with Jim Capaldi for the 40,000 Headmen tour, and in 2004, he teamed with Ravi Sawhney to co-found RKS Guitars.  The firm’s instruments were later played by friends and contemporaries including Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Don Felder, and Rick Springfield.  Mason reestablished himself as a philanthropist, as well, making significant contributions to children’s arts education and veterans causes.  In 2020, he revisited Alone Together as Alone Together Again, and in 2023, released his final album, A Shade of Blues.

Dave Mason contributed mightily to the fabric of classic rock with his enduring songs and impeccable musicianship.  His final Traffic Jam tour (which included a string of dates with The Beach Boys) was a full circle look back at the pioneering music he created with Winwood, Capaldi, and Wood.  In “Feelin’ Alright?” Mason wrote the lyrics, There’s too much to do before I die.  Though he’s much-missed, there’s no doubt that Dave Mason did so very much in his lifetime.