Mason Williams

Mason Williams attained his greatest prominence during the closing years of the 1960s. Serving as both a witty comedy writer and a technically brilliant performer on acoustic guitar, he topped the charts in 1968 through the classical folk instrumental “Classical Gas.” Although half a year passed before the track achieved its number-one status, it subsequently captured Grammy honors for Best Instrumental (Theme) Composition and Best Instrumental (Theme) Performance, while arranger Mike Post earned recognition for Best Instrumental Orchestral Arrangement. A 1987 album titled Classical Gas, featuring a new recording of the piece created with Mannheim Steamroller and Fresh Aire, surpassed the one-million sales mark. The year after that release, Williams’s Country Idyll received a Grammy nomination in the country category for Best Instrumental Performance.

Additional recordings and pieces have further cemented his catalog. In 1992 he issued the acoustic holiday collection A Gift of Song, and his composition “Symphony Bluegrass” has since been presented by more than forty symphony orchestras.

Although his early-1960s melodic work on twelve-string guitar and banjo drew notice, Williams first gained widespread recognition as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Beyond co-authoring the program’s theme, he devised comedic segments such as the 1968 mock presidential campaign mounted by comedian Pat Paulsen. For his contributions he received Emmy awards in both 1967 and 1969 in the category of Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety and Music, and he earned another nomination for the 1988 special The Smothers Brothers’ 20th Reunion Special. He has supplied additional comedy material to Steve Martin, Andy Williams, Glen Campbell, Dinah Shore, Roger Miller, and Petula Clark.

Beyond music and television, Williams has earned recognition for visual art—an 11' x 37' photographic poster depicting a Greyhound bus resides in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art—and he has authored multiple volumes of prose and poetry.