For release Thursday, July 24th 2003

First-call master session guitarist Brent Mason unveils Signature Valley Arts guitar at summer NAMM show

Nashville musician introduces custom guitar at special Les Paul tribute concert and performances at trade show

July 24, 2003 Nashville, Tennessee Master session king Brent Mason unveiled his very own Valley Arts signature guitar during the summer session of NAMM in Nashville, July 18-20th, 2003. Valley Arts, a division of Gibson Guitar Corp., used Mason's highly customized studio instrument as the blueprint for the new signature model. Mason, who is known for his unconventional style and fresh arrangements, joins a long list of famous and influential guitarists who have put their names on Gibson instruments, including Les Paul, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Angus Young, Zakk Wylde and Tony Iommi.

"Brent's personal guitar is a classic, customized player's instrument, which is exactly the kind of guitar that Valley Arts specializes in," said Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson, parent company of Valley Arts. "The Valley Arts Brent Mason Signature is the ultimate player's guitar, designed by the ultimate player."

As a professional guitarist, Brent Mason has demonstrated his virtuosity on sessions with an A-list of country and pop stars including Alabama, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Aaron Neville, Trisha Yearwood, Randy Travis and Neil Diamond. He is a multiple winner of both the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year and the Academy of Country Music's Guitarist of the Year awards. His full range of talents came shining through with his debut album in 1997, Hot Wired, and he has revealed some of the secrets of his trade in his popular instructional video, "Brent Mason's Nashville Chops & Western Swing Guitar."

Mason played the new guitar on stage at a special Tribute to legendary guitarist Les Paul on Saturday, July 19th at the Ryman Theatre in Nashville. He also drew a large crowd of guitar enthusiasts to his performance at the Gibson booth at NAMM, the musical instruments trade show.

Contacts:
Caroline Galloway, Gibson, 440 338-3469  caroline.galloway@gibson.com
Jason Padgitt, Rogers and Cowan, 310 201-8840  jpadgitt@rogersandcowan.com
Walter Carter, Gibson  walter.carter@gibson.com

Valley Arts Brent Mason Signature T-Style Photos
	Product photo	Tiff   8.3mb	Jpg   324kb
	Brent playing live photo	Tiff   14.2mb	Jpg   2.1mb
	Brent playing at NAMM Booth	Tiff   14.4mb	Jpg   1.8mb