GUITARIST RUFFNER LIKES THE TRIED AND TRUE

NEW ORLEANS —  Mason Ruffner doesn’t remember exactly who it was--maybe Carlos Santana, maybe Boz Scaggs or ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. But he remembers his reaction the first time he looked out from the stage of the Bourbon Street bar where he used to perform and saw a rock star in the audience.

“It really terrified me,” said the lanky Texas-born guitarist and singer. “Boy, it really shook me up. I started missin’ licks. Hate to admit it, but it got the best of me.”

Since then, Ruffner has learned to handle it. He had to, because in the last two or three years his sets at the Old Absinthe House Bar here have attracted plenty of names.

Bruce Springsteen dropped by one night, chatted for an hour after the show and helped Ruffner load his equipment in the rain. Robbie Robertson yelled “Who wrote that song?” from the audience after Ruffner had performed one of his own tunes. Santana and Scaggs and Gibbons showed up. Stevie Ray Vaughan climbed on stage one night. So did Jimmy Page, on several occasions.

Page became such a fan that he recruited Ruffner to open for the Firm on the current tour, which stops Thursday at the Forum and Friday at the Pacific Amphitheatre.

“I was concerned, because opening bands are notoriously brutal on your ears and most people don’t even want to hear ‘em,” said Ruffner, the day after playing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and then with the Firm. “But we did jes’ fine. I mean, I see a few people yawn, but you have to expect that.”

The ones who didn’t yawn would have heard the same kind of music that made Ruffner’s debut album one of last year’s neglected gems. “Mason Ruffner” is a solid, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll record distinguished by tunes like Ruffner’s snarling, Dylanesque “Stranded” and “Gravediggers.”

“At this point in my career, you can still see where my sound comes from,” said Ruffner. “It comes from listening to the blues, and from Dylan and Hendrix.

“I’m not here to put any new innovations on you. . . . I’m still using things that are already there: The basic American rootsy sound with country and blues and so forth, and lyrics that were influenced by a cat that knows how to write lyrics.”

But Ruffner has at least one less typical influence: He travels with a book by Arthur Rimbaud and carries a photo of the French poet in his wallet. His obsession dates back to his days growing up on a farm just outside Fort Worth.

“I woke up one morning, wanted to write songs and decided I didn’t have enough in me,” Ruffner said. “There just wasn’t enough in my head or in my life. Life I knew I was gonna live, so I decided to start reading, to educate myself. When I started reading some of those French cats, it really hit home, even if there wasn’t anybody in Fort Worth I could talk to about it.”

Ruffner spent 10 years as a sideman in Texas, mostly playing guitar in local bands.

“I was backing up people that were goin’ nowhere, man,” Ruffner said. “So I thumbed to New Orleans, bought myself some big, dark sunglasses, slicked my hair back so maybe people wouldn’t recognize me, played a little acoustic stuff on the street and then got some gigs on Bourbon Street.”

Well-known rockers began to drop by when they came through town. Ruffner’s reputation grew, and CBS Associated Records signed him.

The Rick Derringer-produced album hasn’t had much impact in the six months it’s been out, outside of plenty of rave reviews. As he begins his biggest tour, though, he’s sanguine about its prospects.

“They just released ‘Gravediggers’ to radio, and I’m gonna be watching to see if they can get any action on that.”

And if it doesn’t take off?

“You’re not gonna get rid of me. I’m gonna be around. I’m more concerned about what people are gonna think of me 20 years from now, because I think that’s sometimes how long it takes to find out what’s valid and what isn’t.”

A grin. “And if the world’s still here 20 years from now, my record might sound pretty cool.”