MOG

As I said in my previous post............"......I'm a little behind schedule here.  It was a crazy weekend, and the reasons for it will be explained in the coming weeks.  Anyway, I am playing a little catch-up from the weekend and posting my "countdown" from Saturday and Sunday today.  Not that you would care, I figured I would just clarify in case you did.  Screw you for judging me."  Moving along....

4 days to go.  I can almost smell the cow shit that we will most likely come across on the drive to Middle-of-Nowhere, Michigan.  The time to go is almost within reach and I am so pumped to get on that plane my nerves are visible.  I don't know how I am going to actually get through work for the next 3 days.  Lord help me.

Since my brain is almost mush as it is, I am going with an easy one here.  If you have looked at the Rothbury site, it is obvious who the headliners of the show are.  So rather than than go on about one of the "smaller" acts for the festival, I am going to swing at a proverbial hanging curveball here and put it over the rightfield fence (I bat lefty) and do a nice, slow homerun trot. 

While he is known by folks in the "pop" world for his slow, acoustic ballad-like songs such as "Your Body is a Wonderland" and "Love Song for No One", John Mayer is much more than an artist who writes songs for the "Dawson's Creek" genre.  Basically, when it comes to the blues guitar, this fucker can rip.  Over the last few years, he has weened himself off of the acoustic, let's-make-out-in-my-parents'-basement mold and moved into the twangy, blues riff crowd.  Seemingly with ease and elegance.  This is most evident on the Jon Mayer Trio live album "Try!".  Rolling Stone, among other publications, has dubbed him one of the new "Guitar Gods", and I think it's completely valid.  It's hard to get a feel for that off of an album of his, but you have to experience his noodling and riffing live to really get a feel for it.  Just trust me on this. 

And if the acoustic thing is in your wheelhouse, pick up Mayer's "The Village Sessions" album, which was a limited release.  It's a few acoustic takes on some of his newer songs, with a little help from Ben Harper, and I highly recommend it.  If you can't find it, let me know and we'll work out some sort of deal where I make you jump through hoops and/or do something strange/illegal to get a copy from me. 

Enjoy.

(as a side note, for some reason I can't upload a John Mayer Trio song.  So, here is the best "bluesy" song I could find.  Also, here's a video that's a good example of his sweet guitar skills.)