“I said, ‘Damn, I wish I could have cut that song faster!’ So what we did was speed the tape up, which took the pitch up. If you listen to it, it’ll make sense!”: How a master guitarist made a cult classic instrumental album

Brent Mason performs at Guitar Town at Copper Mountain, Colorado on 29 July, 2007.

By 1997, guitarist Brent Mason had appeared on records by George Strait, Shania Twain, Alan Jackson and more. He’d helped define the sound of modern country music in the ’90s, but he wanted more.

Before his session career took off, Mason had dreams of being a songwriter. So, after hitting paydirt in support of others, he decided that it was time to realise his dream in the form of his debut solo record, Hot Wired.