| Steve Mason | |
| Birth Name: | Stephen Daniel Mason |
| Birth Date: | 8 July 1975[1] |
| Birth Place: | Joliet, Illinois, U.S. |
| Instrument: | Guitar, vocals |
| Genre: | Alternative rock, folk, Christian |
| Label: | Essential/Silvertone, Gray Matters/Nettwerk |
| Occupation: | Musician, songwriter |
| Years Active: | 1993–present |
| Associated Acts: | Jars of Clay, Sara Groves |
Stephen Daniel Mason (born July 8, 1975)[2] is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist for Christian alternative folk rock group Jars of Clay.
Mason was born in Joliet, Illinois[3] in 1975, however was brought up from age 8 in Decatur, Illinois where he attended Warrensburg-Latham schools.[4]
Mason joined Jars of Clay as a founding member in 1993 with singer Dan Haseltine and pianist Charlie Lowell while studying at Greenville College in his home state of Illinois. As a submission piece to get into college, Mason wrote an instrumental guitar piece entitled "Frail" which was later recorded and used as the namesake for the group's first demo Frail. The song later had lyrics added by Jars of Clay's lead singer Dan Haseltine for the group's second album Much Afraid.
Growing up in Illinois, Mason is a Chicago Bears football team supporter, but also now supports the Tennessee Titans, who play in his adopted city of Nashville.
He is also a supporter of the Nashville SC soccer club, where he attended its first MLS home match dressed as Moses, resulting in national attention and the club referring to him as "Soccer Moses".[5] [6]
In 2014, Stephen qualified as a Master Barber and has started cutting hair at his shop, The Handsomizer.[7]
Mason married Melissa Mason in late 90’s and has two children. He left Melissa in 2009 to marry former BBC Radio producer Jude Adam on October 24, 2009.[8]
Mason uses a range of different guitars for performing with Jars of Clay, both electric and acoustic. Some of them he uses exclusively in the studio and others exclusively for live performances.
As for pedals, over the years Mason has been seen using a Boss Tuner, Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde, Swell Pedals G-TOD, Tonephile Puredrive, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, DMB Pedals, and a Pedaltrain pedalboard.