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Willy Mason.
 "I'd heard the name Radio 1, but it didn't really mean much to me. But he wanted to do a radio show. Why not? He seemed nice enough..."
The biggest break of Willy Mason's career is explained so casually that it almost seems an afterthought. The 'he' Mason refers to is BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe. Lowe is a good friend to have for a new, young American artist, and the impact was immediate. "I headed over and did the Ben Kweller tour right after that, and people started showing up to every gig that had heard of me, and some even had come just to see me as the opening act. I figured out something was going on."
Ensuring this story passes into music industry legend is the fact that Mason was struggling through one of the worst shows of his life at, of all places, the annual South By Southwest Music Conference in Austin, in front of three people. "I saw one person watching really closely and kind of played for that one person. It turned out there was two or three other folks in the back watching, and they were the ones that came up to me with the British accents after."
Willy Mason grew up on Martha's Vineyard, an island off Cape Cod where his musical perspective was initially shaped by his parents. Both were roots-based performers who introduced to him the folk music tradition of there being no divide between performer and audience. His just-released album 'Where The Humans Eat' ably demonstrates this approach. Listen to it at home, the office or in peak hour traffic: it always feels as though Mason is playing just over your shoulder.
"I didn't really plan this album out and I don't imagine I'll do much planning for the next one. Right now I'm just trying to take the volume of people who are into my songs and try to live up to it, but not get too big-headed. There's a lot of business going on, trying to get myself secured and my family secured."
That's a sensible plan of action for anyone, but Mason has only just turned 20. You'd never guess it listening to the album or chatting to him. He doesn't even mind the fact that his age comes up every interview he does. "I guess it's good to remind me of where I'm at. I guess you can't take your stuff too seriously when you're only 20."
That's a staggering attitude, and amazingly honest. Does he have any ideas as to what he'll be doing in ten years time? "Who knows what I'll be doing? I'm already getting to live out all the ambitions that I ever thought I had, so I guess when I'm 30 I'll just be sitting on the porch with a dog, talking to my sweetheart or something..."
One listen to the record and you'll realise that image is pretty plausible right now. While John Lee Hooker, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash are name-checked in his bio, you imagine this is what Jack White thinks he sounds like when he plays solo. Throw in a few Creedence moments, and the whole organic mess reeks of porch-with-dog-and-sweetheart.
Inevitably, Mason had to leave the Vineyard to make a go of music, leading to an episode immortalised in his song Our Town. The question needs to be asked: how do you get 'mistakenly arrested' in New York? "I made friends with the wrong guy in the eyes of the law. I was in Times Square that night, made friends with a guy from San Francisco, another traveller, and we just talked for about an hour, trading stories from the road and stuff. After that he went inside to talk to some people and I went to get a cup of coffee, but didn't make it to the coffee shop.
"When they brought me in, I saw the same guy and it was like 'what the hell are you doing here?' Turned out he'd been dealing drugs, and they thought I was working with him. So they had me see a judge and stuff and they were hoping that my backpack would've had more than just CDs and books in it. It was about 30 hours in a cell in the end, and then after I saw the judge I got let off with a clean record."
As for his cancelled Australian tour..."Oh man, don't take it personally, alright?" he laughs. "I'll be back over."
We'll hold you to that, Willy. We'll hold you to that.
Wade Howland
 | 'Where The Humans Eat' is out now through EMI.
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