John Mayer, you can do no wrong in my eyes. I have so many fond college memories involving Room For Squares, listening to it in my dorm room and on short road trips. It blows my mind that it’s been over ten years since it’s release! It’s a new classic in my opinion, one that I’ll never get sick of playing. I gotta hand it to John Mayer for keeping it consistent across the majority of his 10+ years in the business. Aside from subtle differences in the instrumentation and perhaps the production, each and every one of his albums sounds definitively like a John Mayer album. With four multi-platinum albums under his belt, he’s found what works and he’s sticking with it.
Mayer’s latest single, “Shadow Days” is no exception. Released March 6th (iTunes US/ iTunes UK), “Shadow Days” was written by Mayer and serves as the lead single off of Mayer’s upcoming fifth album, Born and Raised, due out May 22nd on Columbia Records. Mayer produced the album along with Don Was (Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt). Additional collaborations include rock legends David Crosby and Graham Nash and keyboardist/pianist Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton). Originally scheduled to do a large-scale tour in support of the album, the return of a granuloma in his throat forced Mayer to cancel all dates and indefinitely postpone live performances. Mayer took to his Tumblr blog March 9th to explain in more depth. So sad, if we don’t have our health and our family, what do we have?
While it remains to be seen how his inability to perform and promote the album will affect sales of the album, Mayer still was able to put out a music video for “Shadow Days,” which premiered April 27th on Mayer’s VEVO page. Directed by Phillip Andelman, the video features Mayer roughin’ it solo on the road. Beautiful vistas and local culture fill up this charming and beautiful road trip video. A scraggly, yet still handsome Mayer is laid back as ever, the pain and emotional toll of his health concerns not remotely evident. Wishing John a speedy recovery.
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