{"id":1973,"date":"2019-02-21T17:49:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T17:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2019-02-21T17:51:49","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T17:51:49","slug":"arachnophonia-john-mayer-born-and-raised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2019\/02\/arachnophonia-john-mayer-born-and-raised\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: John Mayer “Born and Raised”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student worker Elias (class of 2021) and features John Mayer’s 2012 studio album Born and Raised<\/strong><\/a>. Thanks, Elias!<\/em><\/p>\n

John Mayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Born and Raised<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Mayer<\/a>, the egotistical, narcissistic, prodigious, reformed paradox of a musician is by far my favorite artist of all time. When people think of John Mayer, they typically think of him for one of two things: his iconic love songs or TMZ headlines articulating exactly how he broke Katy Perry\u2019s\/Taylor Swift\u2019s\/Kim Kardashian\u2019s\/Jennifer Anniston\u2019s heart. Either way, I rarely see people appreciating his musical talent or his raw songwriting genius. There\u2019s a reason Eric Clapton calls him a \u201cmaster\u201d guitarist.<\/a> And for me, there\u2019s no better example of this mastery than on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t guess it at first, Mayer often speaks in interviews about how his favorite type of music to write is blues<\/a>. You get hints of this on sprinkled across his other hit albums, but Born and Raised<\/a><\/em> is his real tribute to this passion. From first looking at the album art, it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary album from hit-machine John. There\u2019s no photo of Mayer trying to seem like he doesn\u2019t know his picture is being taken, and no angsty black and white filter over the whole image. No, Born and Raised<\/a><\/em> sports old-fashioned text intertwined with clockwork<\/a>, adorned with phrases such as \u201cMusic by John Mayer\u201d and \u201cStereo Recorded Sound.\u201d No glitz or glam, no profile shots algorithmically calculated to get girls to pick up the tape. Just the title, and a little style to set the tone. <\/p>\n

\"ohn-Mayer-Born-and-Raised\"<\/p>\n

Now, the music. The tracks on this album are slow, gentle folk songs, with a Mayeresque vibe to them. It opens with \u201cQueen of California<\/a>,\u201d as Mayer immediately flexes his technical muscles with a flowing, articulated, methodical guitar riff cover almost the entire length of the song. It almost sounds like \u201cWhy Georgia<\/a>\u201d at first, but the album\u2019s themes sink in after a spell. A gentle, clean electric guitar accents the track with smooth bends which work alongside Mayer\u2019s voice to keep you interested. <\/p>\n