Anthony Mason on His New Interview Show, ‘Alchemy,’ and Going Deep With Paul Simon and Neil Diamond

Anthony Mason has spent decades on television, becoming one of those familiar faces you recognize without quite knowing why. He joined CBS News as a correspondent in the mid-1980s, eventually serving as the network's Moscow bureau chief. Over his long career, he has traveled the world extensively, covering major events from the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Iran-Iraq war to the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the latter earning him the first of seven Emmy Awards. He has also interviewed presidents from Nixon to Obama and reported on numerous elections as they unfolded. However, in recent years, Mason has shifted his focus to arts and culture reporting. His weekend morning interviews with music legends like Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Adele, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, and Cher have become a staple for viewers. He has also profiled actors such as Jerry Seinfeld, Emily Blunt, Kate Winslet, and Scarlett Johansson. Despite this rich career, the constraints of broadcast television have always limited how deeply he can explore an artist's work and life. That is now changing with "Alchemy," a new long-form interview show on YouTube that complements his CBS role but allows for much deeper dives into the emotions, motivations, creative processes, and final results of their art.

Filmed in Mason's own living room, each episode of "Alchemy" is an intimate, 45-minute conversation with a major artist. The series launches with Hozier, followed by legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon, indie trio Muna, and Nile Rodgers, co-founder of Chic and producer for icons like David Bowie, Madonna, and Diana Ross. New episodes will be posted on Wednesdays at 6 a.m. ET on Mason's YouTube channel. In a recent interview with Variety, Mason explained how the show fits with his CBS work. "Yes, I’m still a staff member there," he said. "I have a carve-out in my contract that allows me to do things on the outside, although they have right of first refusal. I pitched them this idea for the show and they basically said they couldn’t do it, so I went ahead and did it on the outside." He views it as a complementary project, noting that while he has long conducted in-depth interviews for "CBS Sunday Morning," only short segments typically air. Reflecting on a 2008 interview with a then-unknown 20-year-old Adele, he recalled, "We had two and a half days with her... most of the two hours of interview footage has never seen the light of day. We put a seven-minute piece on the air that probably had four minutes of that interview." The success of posting extended CBS interviews on YouTube, like one with R.E.M., convinced him to create a regular home for these deeper conversations.

Mason chose to film in his apartment for deeply personal reasons. "I wanted it to feel very personal," he explained. "I didn’t want to shoot it in a conference room or some studio — we’re talking about creativity, so I want to be in a room that reflects it." The set features a red room with a yellow chair, a gold record on the wall, and Nile Rodgers' guitar, which Mason bought from him, placed between him and the guest. This space also connects to his childhood, as his mother was an interior designer and his stepfather a painter. He recalled a pivotal early interview with Neil Diamond at the Bitter End, a legendary Greenwich Village folk venue. "Neil is a relatively guarded person, but he walked into the Bitter End, and it was like all of that guardedness fell away," Mason said. Diamond, transported back to his youth, pointed to a corner and said, "It was here that I received the first paycheck as a musician that I ever received: fifty dollars." This moment taught Mason that taking artists away from their fame and back to their insecurities reveals a different person. "One of the first lessons I learned in talking to artists was if you can get them away from the fame and take them back to their youth, all that stuff falls away," he noted.

Mason shared highlights from his "Alchemy" interviews, particularly with Paul Simon and Hozier. Simon, who has been recording since the 1950s, spoke about writing "The Sounds of Silence" at age 22. "How did that come out of a 22-year-old’s mind? How did that happen?" Mason asked. Simon replied, "It was a gift. It was so far ahead of where I was as a songwriter at that time. I can’t tell you what happened, but you just accept the gift." Mason chose Hozier as the first guest because of their previous interviews and the singer's thoughtful nature. He was especially moved by a story about Hozier's father, who suffered a spinal injury when Hozier was a child and hadn't played drums for 30 years. At Madison Square Garden in 2023, Hozier invited his father to play on "The Weight." "He started to tear up because it just was such a big deal," Mason recalled. Hozier admitted the idea was his, saying, "I was terrified, because if it went wrong, it would be my fault."

Reflecting on his transition from hard news to arts reporting, Mason noted it began almost by accident. His first major music piece was a 2005 interview with Bruce Springsteen on the "Devils and Dust" tour, after a cameraman mentioned working on a story about Springsteen's wife, Patty Scialfa. For years, he balanced being a business correspondent with arts coverage. "It wasn’t until I came off of hosting the morning show that I finally was like, ‘I’m doing these now, nothing else,’" he said. His wife later observed, "You thought journalists were your people, but it’s actually artists." Mason still sees himself as a journalist, but now understands his true passion. When asked if the thrill is the same as covering presidents or the fall of the Iron Curtain, he explained, "It’s the same but different. What I learned to really appreciate, once I figured out interviewing, is the flow and arc of a conversation. I love creating a river in a conversation that you kind of meander down, but underneath it, there’s absolutely a tide." His goal with "Alchemy" is to create an environment where viewers feel they have seen a genuine part of the person, revealed through humor, sadness, or other emotions. "That’s what I’m trying to do here — I want this to be a very personal show," he concluded.