"Why Georgia"?!

Many Atlanta locals will be surprised to learn pop/rock/blues artist John Mayer does not hail from Georgia. With lyrics such as "you can find me down on Peachtree St," "I am driving down 85 in the kind of morning that lasts all afternoon," and hit song "Why Georgia," it is easy to assume he is a homegrown Georgia boy. The truth is, Mayer is an Atlanta transplant. He came to our city from his hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut in 1998.

It was in Atlanta that Mayer began his wildly successful musical career. After attempting a stint at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mayer felt he needed to seek his own path in a different city. He moved to Atlanta and formed band Lo-Fi Masters. They toured local venues such as Eddie's Attic but the band did not see eye-to-eye on the music they were producing. At this point, John decided to go solo. It's a good thing he did. He recorded his EP Inside Wants Out and began to get his name out in the music industry. At a Southwest Airlines music festival record label Aware signed Mayer and funded his first full length debut. Aware scored a deal for Mayer on Columbia records and it was on this label that he released his debut album Room For Squares.

Room For Squares marked the beginning of a myriad of Grammy award winning songs and albums. Off this album came Mayer's biggest hit "Your Body Is a Wonderland" and other popular songs such as "No Such Thing" and "Why Georgia." In 2003 "Your Body is a Wonderland" won Mayer his first of 5 Grammy awards. He followed up with two more solo albums "Heavier Things" and the recently-released bluesy album "Continuum." Mayer also released a blues album Try! with his side project the John Mayer Trio. Trio was made up of Mayer, bassists Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan. The band opened for The Rolling Stones and went on to a highly successful club tour.

Although Mayer now resides in Los Angeles and New York City, he maintains that Atlanta is a second home to him. Mayer often discusses how the majority of the music on his debut album was inspired during his time in Atlanta. He would walk around local neighborhoods such as Five Points and downtown Atlanta and write about what he was feeling at that place and time. In fact, Atlanta is so close to his heart that it is no surprise that most people assume he's originally from here. Despite his enormous success, Mayer continues to show his appreciation toward our city by playing 3 or 4 shows a year in Atlanta. That's more than any other city on his tours. Mayer is one of the few non-Atlanta native musicians that Atlanta locals can still be proud to call their own.