Mason Ruffner

Growing up amid the rigid Protestant rules of his Fort Worth family, rules as unyielding as those in any Southern Baptist household, Mason Ruffner was barred from dancing and other activities labeled sinful. At 17 he left that home for Southern California, intent on sampling the very things once forbidden—girls, alcohol, drugs, and music. Years of the freewheeling surfer life that had begun for him in the late ’60s eventually lost its appeal, prompting a return to Texas with only his guitars and commitment to music intact.

He first explored folk and rock before deeper influences took hold: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, the blues he had encountered in Fort Worth from Lightnin’ Hopkins and Howlin’ Wolf, and the poetry of 19th-century French writers Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. One early appearance found him on the bandstand at Fort Worth’s Bluebird Lounge alongside Robert Ealey’s Five Careless Lovers. In 1977 he reached New Orleans expecting only a short stay to raise funds for Europe, yet the music at Preservation Hall and the Bourbon Street clubs featuring Huey “Piano” Smith and Smiley Lewis persuaded him to remain.

The European plan never materialized. Ruffner took a French Quarter apartment and began working the local circuit, forming the Blues Rockers and holding regular nights at Club 544 while backing visiting artists such as Memphis Slim and John Lee Hooker. Recognition spread to Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, and Jimmy Page, each of whom began appearing at his shows. CBS executive Tony Martell caught one of those performances and quickly arranged a recording contract.

Martell paired Ruffner with producer Rick Derringer, resulting in the self-titled 1985 album of largely original blues material. Ruffner opened dates across the United States for Jimmy Page and the Firm, and the record drew praise from the New York Times and Rolling Stone. Two years later Gypsy Blood appeared, produced by Dave Edmunds. Further touring placed him alongside Page once more, as well as Crosby, Stills & Nash and U2. In 1989 he opened Ringo Starr’s tour and contributed to Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy and Daniel Lanois’ debut album, Acadie.