Quick Hitters:: Mayer Hawthorne and The County

Not to pat ourselves on the cyber-back, but for two semi-lazy and non-organized dudes, we end up covering a fairly wide range of music here at the hill. Because of that we get send some odd stuff; some stuff we listen to and go "What the...", and then jettison it back into the cyber-space from whence it came, and then, occasionally, some stuff that we go "What the...hey...wait a second here...oh, I like this". The latest act to receive the latter treatment is Mayer Hawthorne and The County.

Mayer Hawthorne is a 29 year-old white dude that grew up in Ann Arbour, Michigan. This by itself is not an unusual or altogether impressive fact, but when you listen to the rather lovely old-school soul music he makes, it becomes rather curious indeed. In fact, when Stones Throw honcho Peanut Butter Wolf heard Mayer's demo songs, he had no idea what he was hearing:

“He showed me two songs and I didn’t understand what I was listening to,” Wolf recalls. “I asked him if they were old songs that he did re-edits of – I couldn’t believe they were new songs and that he played all the instruments.”

Not that's just fun isn't it? Well, PB Wolf was obvious impressed, and inked Mayer to Stones Throw, which is kind of impressive considering it was only two songs. But then again, I can see the logic behind it, as I've already listened to Just Ain't Gonna Work Out about 15 times today. Can't help it really, the bottom-heavy drums matched with Mayer's old-is-the-new-new Motown falsetto is kind of hard to resist. Plus they're selling it on lovely clear & heart-shaped vinyl (see it spin below), which is also kind of hard to resist I would say.

So here you go, a little treat for your Friday afternoon, enjoy.