As a professional guitarist,
Brent Mason demonstrated his virtuosity on sessions with a number of country and pop stars, including
George Strait,
Shania Twain,
Aaron Neville,
Trisha Yearwood,
Randy Travis and
Neil Diamond, but he never had a chance to demonstrate the full range of his talents until his 1997 debut album,
Hot Wired. To be sure,
Mason tackles country on the all-instrumental record, but he also stretches out, wandering into some jazzy territory here and there. While there are a couple of slow spots -- some of the songwriting is a little undistinguished --
Mason continually shines, proving that he's a guitarist's guitarist. ~ Thom Owens