Quick hits: September 13, 2005

The John Mayer Trio, ready for takeoff

The John Mayer Trio (I keep wanting to say Butler, but I'm well aware that's a completely separate group) officially released a couple of singles today, both of which are readily available on iTunes. For those that haven't been keeping up on what's new with Mr. Mayer, he's--for now, anyway-- ditched the acoustic rock sound that has made him oh so popular and going back to his roots of blues-infused rock. Now if you've only listened to him on cd, or only know of him, this may come as a surprise, but in reality, Mayer is heavily influenced by the blues and he likes nothing better than to rip a huge blues guitar solo, just ask anyone that's seen him live. This is also an area where, by going off and doing this blues thing, he could potentially be even more successful than he was beforehand. Granted, Mayer has practically done nothing but manufactured hits from "No Such Thing" to "Your Body Is a Wonderland" to the more-recent favorite flavor of "Daughters," but really, where is it that he could've gone from there? He's really just doing the same thing that the smartest pop stars have done, and that is, quite simply, reinventing themselves. By reinvention, that doesn't include those who force a new identity, but instead trust themselves enough to rely on whatever influence or change they might've had personally and use that to create their new sound. While Mayer's voice doesn't necessarily match the scruffy new sound that he's now enveloped himself in, or at least not yet, he doesn't sound pretentious or sound like he's out of his element. Overall, the lead single "Who Did You Think I Was" is a success in that it's very fresh and fits nicely within the blues/soul framework, but at the same time still sounds like an authentic John Mayer song, which makes a pressing case on what may be a developing parallel to another certain rock/blues artist by the name of Eric Clapton. Whether or not this holds up will surely depend on the path that Mayer follows for the rest of his career, but should he decide to stick to doing blues and then also work loosely on some of his more pop-oriented material you could see more and more folks making the same connection. The B-Side track, "Come When I Call" finds the trio playing much more traditional blues and once again calls for a consideration of the Clapton parallel made earlier, as Mayer almost effortlessly floats through the verses and adds an exceptional guitar solo to boot. The full fledged album, which will be entitled Continuum, will be released sometime early next year.
In related news, the John Mayer Trio will be releasing a live album based on the tapings from their upcoming House of Blues stint in Chicago (Sept. 21 and 22), which is due out in November, so be sure to check that out as well.

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