John Mayer: The Village Sessions
3/4/2007 – 12:32 am | by EmileWhat’s amazing is the typecasting we do for nearly every thing in our society these days, and John Mayer has come to be no exception to that rule. His TRY! album which was a live concert with the John Mayer Trio featured blistering blues guitarwork and got his youthful and largely female audience bopping and dancing to blues. Followed up by Continuum in October ‘06, it’s evident that his sound is becoming larger, more diverse, and yet more polished. His recent sold-out show and performance at Madison Square Garden, if not his stunning Crossroads Blues Festival performance has certainly earmarked him as a guitarist and an artist to contend with. Despite what certain jerks can’t help say. And heck, he even blogs - thus, he can’t be all that bad 
I subsequently learned on his site of a limited distribution acoustic CD he put out at The Village recording studio in Californ - I - A. Because the session was released to independent CD companies, it’s subsequently not so mainstream and a little harder to find. But it warrants looking into. I managed to snag the CD on Amazon for $4
The set list includes:
- Waiting on the world to change (w/Ben Harper)
- Belief
- Slow dancing on a burning room
- Good love is on the way
- I’m gonna find another you
- In repair
It’s a small all-acoustic set but it rings with the tone and spectrum of Eric Clapton’s Unplugged album without the full band behind him. What comes to the surface is his acoustic mastery as well as a smokier, and softer voice. Listen to it all the way through and you’ll find yourself hitting repeat more than you think and echoing the credo that Rolling Stone magazine just handed him (and its a heavy crown to bear): Slowhand Jr.