Mayer Hawthorne is loved, really loved, I just saw the girls’ eyes at the Getty museum earlier this year when I was desperately trying to attend his free concert. The huge museum parking was full, and it almost never happens.
You have to believe there is a genuine need for this reinvention of R&B, but labeling his music of retro would not be completely fair, he is taking this soul revival movement to new heights, as ‘Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out’ is simultaneously Smokey Robinson and J Dilla.
Answering to some questions in view of his performance at the Sunset Junction Fair this coming Sunday, he feels really comfortable in his blue-eyed-soul character, saying he had badass parents who were very musical and were listening to the Beatles, the Byrds, the Hollies, the Beach Boys, and a lot of Motown of course as they were living only 25 miles from Motown.
He claims that hard work and having a lot of ‘infectious’ fun are the secret to his success, and that every morning is his favorite moment as an artist because he makes music for a living. What a happy and lucky man! And this obviously transpires in his music.
Mayer owns thousands of records and digs all the genres, from Jazz, Rock, Metal, Punk, Disco, Reggae, Classical, Electronic… to everything, his pedigree even includes hip hop. But to win a lady, he would go with the real standards, like Frank Sinatra’s ‘I’ve Got A Crush On You’.
He loves to find new bands like this local Pasadena group from the 70s called Shorty’s Portion that Peanut Butter Wolf, the president of his record label ‘Stones Throw’, made him recently discover, and he is a big fan of The Whispers, the band who is going to play just after him on the same stage. So we may be expecting a duet at the Sunset Junction. Surprises of this kind have happened before, I saw Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley joining Conor Oberst on stage, and Jack Black jumping in the middle of Eagles of Death Metal’s set.
The multi-instrumentalist, producer and soulful crooner is currently working on his 2nd full length album, but he and his County will be on the Hoover Stage this Sunday at the Sunset Junction Fair around 6:45 pm, just be sure to get close to the stage very early!