"I gratefully accept this graduate assistantship under one condition: that I be excused from three weeks of classes around Saint Patrick's Day - my Irish band Millish is scheduled to tour Germany then." That is how Jesse Mason's graduate studies in physics began; it is also the reason why his fellow musicians heard so much about quantum mechanics during their tour of Germany. 

Classical piano lessons began at age five for Mason. They continued for two decades. He took up the trumpet for middle school band. In high school he switched to percussion, first in marching band, then in wind ensemble as well. When Mason turned sixteen he restrung his father's acoustic guitar and started strumming along to bluegrass tunes on old vinyl records. A few weeks later he booked his first guitar gig: an hour-long set with his brother and two cousins - Lil' Creek, they called themselves - at the local coffee shop. By this time, Mason had been studying composition with his piano teacher and had written several piano pieces. One of his pieces earned him a scholarship to Interlochen, a summer music camp in Northern Michigan where Mason would study piano, composition and orchestration. During his final year in high school, Mason wrote and conducted a piece for wind ensemble. Also during his senior year, Mason joined the Saline Fiddlers Philharmonic, a high school fiddle music club. In the following decade, Mason would serve in the capacity of arranger, composer, assistant director and director for this group. 

Mason's collegiate studies in music centered on piano, percussion and composition. He experimented with euphonium in marching band and for a while he considered a career in music education. Neither stuck. Mason's passion for the guitar exploded after teaming up with Jeremy Kittel, a fiddle phenom from the high school fiddle club. Together Kittel and Mason played traditional and original Celtic music throughout the Midwest. When Garrison Keillor hosted A Prairie Home Companion in Ann Arbor, Mason joined Kittel onstage as a musical guest. As Kittel moved on to college and other musical projects, Mason started playing guitar for Millish, a local Irish band. In 2005 Millish released its debut album, featuring two award-winning original pieces. Millish performance dates began to fill the calendar as Mason learned to juggle band management duties alongside his academic studies. Soon the band was playing festivals and concerts throughout the Midwest and in Europe. In the fall of 2011, ten years after the band's inception and with hundreds of gigs under their belt, Millish was invited to play their own brand of Irish music... in Ireland. (Click the purple-colored video to the left to hear them performing one of Mason's original numbers.) Though Millish seldom performs anymore, Mason continues to play music with local folk musicians and currently sings with the Fort Street Presbyterian Choir. (Click the Tyger to listen to a piece Mason wrote for the choir.)