Mason Ruffner

Accolade and quotation In Bob Dylan's memoir, Chronicles: Volume One (2004), Dylan noted "Ruffner played in Bourbon Street clubs like the Old Absinthe Bar. He was a regional star, had a high pompadour, a gold tooth smile with a tiny guitar inlaid. He had a few records out and some explosive licks with funky edges, rockabilly tremolo-influenced, wrote songs, too, said that he'd hung around libraries reading Rimbaud and Baudelaire to get his language down. He also told me that as a teenager he had played with Memphis Slim. I thought I had something in common with him there. I'd played with Big Joe Williams when I was coming up. Mason had some fine songs. One of them had the line, "You do good things for people and it just makes them bad." I would have thought about recording it if I didn't have my own originals."

Quoted in The Dallas Morning News in 1986, Ruffner noted "You buy some dark sunglasses. Standing up front is a lot different to standing on the side, man. Believe me, there's a big difference".

Discography

Solo albums Year Title Record label 1985 Mason Ruffner CBS Records 1987 Gypsy Blood Epic Records 1997 Evolution Archer Records 1999 You Can't Win Burnside Distribution Corporation 2007 Mason Ruffner Live CD Baby 2008 So Far CD Baby