Mason Williams. Jose's Place / Find A Reason To Believe

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Mason Williams released Jose's Piece a song written by Williams on Warner Brothers Records in 1970. On the B side was "Find A Reason To Believe" a song written by Tim Hardin. This record is Warner Brothers 7402 and is a promotional copy that remains in very good condition.

Mason Williams was born in Abilene, Texas in 1938. His early years were spent living part time with his father in Oklahoma and the rest of his time in Oakride, Oregon with his mother. 

When it came to college Williams attended Oklahoma City University from 1957 to 1960. He served in the US Navy from 1961 to 1963. Williams is known as musician, composer, songwriter, writer, poet, photographer.

 

It was in 1968, Williams won three Grammy Awards for his excellent guitar instrumental "Classical Gas". The three Grammy's that year were for "Best Instrumental (theme) Composition", "Best Instrumental (theme) Performance", and "Best Instrumental Orchestra Arrangement". It sold over one million copies and Williams received a gold record for that. 

Williams has recorded more than a dozen albums, five on the Warner Bros. label. He also recorded on American Gramophone label and Vanguard label. 

In 1994 Williams played six sold-out concerts with the Oregon Symphony in Portland, Oregon. Also in the 1990's he performed with the Eugene Symphony with friend Ken Kesey. 

In 1995, Williams was invited to play for Oregon governor John Kitzhaber's inauguration and in 1996, Williams received an honorary Doctorate of Music from his alma mater, Oklahoma City University.

In 1998, BMI,  the performance rights organization that tracks air play performances on radio and television, presented Williams with a Special Citation of Achievement in recognition of the great national and international popularity of "Classical Gas". By 2008, the song logged over six million broadcast performances, to become the all-time number-one instrumental composition for air play in BMI's catalog.

In October 2007, he was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and co-headlined a concert with Everclear and Paul Revere and the Raiders.