Charity Stafford

Stewart Mason

According to his parents, Stewart Mason taught himself to read at age three by studying his older sister's LP collection. His own first LP, bought at his dad's discount store when he was five, was the Box Tops' Super Hits. By junior high, Boulder, Colorado's freeform radio powerhouse KBCO, a nightly music video show on local public-access TV, and the import-heavy record shops near the CU campus made him a diehard new waver. Ironically, moving back to his native West Texas from Boulder's hipster circles greatly expanded his musical interests: in Lubbock circa 1985, anything to the left of George Strait was "Stewart's weird music," making it okay to explore everything from Ernest Tubb to Harry Partch alongside the burgeoning college radio scene.

Stewart wrote his first record review (approving of McCartney II) for his sixth-grade class newspaper and never stopped. Except for two post-grad years as a technical librarian, he's been a critic, entertainment journalist, and columnist since high school. His work has appeared in Mojo, Crawdaddy, All Music Guide, Amplifier, Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi, and Boston's Weekly Dig. He lives in Allston, Massachusetts, with his wife Charity and an impressive variety of animals.