Willy Mason

Born in 1984 in New York State and raised on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Willy Mason developed his songwriting early within a musical family—his parents, Jemima James and Michael Mason, are songwriters themselves. He emerged in the early 2000s with an acoustic folk-rock sound tinged with blues and country, built around a deep voice, sparse guitar playing and direct lyrics. After a first EP in 2004, he recorded Where the Humans Eat that same year—an album produced within Conor Oberst’s circle and released by Team Love in the United States, with a UK release in 2005. He followed with If the Ocean Gets Rough (2007) and Carry On (2012), the latter broadening his approach toward a more expansive songwriting while remaining rooted in folk. Mason has performed across American and British stages, both solo and with a band, and at festivals such as Glastonbury. His collaborations include The Chemical Brothers, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Lianne La Havas, Brendan Benson and Jamie Woon. In 2021 he released Already Dead, his first studio album under his own name in nearly ten years.