I have to admit: I was originally a very harsh critic of John Mayer. I disliked his music for the same reason I initially disliked James Blunt’s music: high-singing men singing soft songs just wasn’t attractive to me. I would attribute most of his fans to obviously be teenage girls wooed over by his good looks, charm, and the fact he could play an instrument. Because of this, his album Heavier Things never caught more than a glance from me at the music store.
A good amount of time passed without me hearing any John Mayer, other than the over-played pop hit Your Body is a Wonderland that basically every young girl in the world with ears fell in love with. Apparently, Mayer was very busy in this time. While watching an episode of the popular FOX show House I happened to hear Mayer’s Gravity, off the then recently released Continuum album. This song caught my attention because it was absolutely nothing like my ‘idea’ of John Mayer. In fact, I didn’t even realize it was him until I looked up the song.
I discovered his then new album Continuum was nothing like the John Mayer before. He had re-invented himself. Gone were the acoustic pop rock songs, replaced now with bluesy, songs with deeper meanings and more soulful vocals. Mayer was growing in both music and himself.
Alongside his solo ventures he had formed another band called the John Mayer Trio, which played exclusively blues music. It took me a little while to realize they were actually quite good. In the Trio’s songs Mayer shows a mastery of the guitar hinted at, but not completely shown, in his solo works. The Trio does a number of cover songs such as Ray Charles’ I Got a Woman, several songs from Mayer’s solo work, as well as some songs original to the Trio. One such song, Who Did You Think I Was?, explores Mayer’s new mindset, challenging the world’s idea of who he is. As Mayer states in the lyrics:
I’m a shifter of the shape I’m in
Who did you think I was?
[...]
Am I the one who plays the quiet songs
Is he the one who turns the ladies on?
Will I keep shining till my light is gone?
Who did you think I was?
On December 8th, 2007, all the personalities of John Mayer were displayed back-to-back in one dynamic, 2-hour concert at the Nokia Theatre in L.A. The concert was filmed in high definition and has been released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and 2-Disk Audio CD form under the name Where the Light Is. On the Where the Light Is trailer, John Mayer states:
“That’s the thing with people knowing anything about you before you meet them. Is that you have to work just to get people back to knowing nothing about you. So, it would take me an hour at this point, to ease someone’s mind into knowing nothing about me.”
Mayer more than does this in the 2-hour concert featuring an acoustic set, a set with the Trio, followed immediately by a full-band set. The concert is absolutely amazing, showing the different musical stylings of Mayer as he tirelessly transitions from one to the next.
John Mayer is a bright musician with an uncertain future—but he prefers it that way. Wherever he decides to take his musical career, he’s shown his ability to excel in whatever sound he desires.
If you haven’t already, you should definitely check out the Where the Light Is concert DVD or Blu-Ray disk. Very good stuff.