Writing “Out Here”
“Out Here” is the next single from the new album and is streaming now. Buy the album on vinyl, CD, or digital download.
There are many ways to write a song. Some of my favorites start with a spark of inspiration and an improvised voice memo. These elusive moments are raw, vulnerable, and usually private…but I accidentally captured this one on video. Riding my bike home one night, I came across a piano in the park. I started recording a video of me playing, but I was thinking about our unborn son. It was his due date, but he seemed very cozy and content inside his mama. For the first time, I felt the need to tell him something as his dada: you gotta come out here. And since I was already recording, there was no need to start a voice memo so I just went with it. This is how “Out Here” started and Marvin showed up nine days later.
New album bike ride song snippets: A BRIDGE!
Here is another very exciting bike ride song snippet from the new album! Today, please enjoy this BRIDGE from “Out Here” (track 4). It is the next single from the new album and it will be streaming this Friday. Pre-orders are shipping very soon so buy the album today on vinyl, CD, or digital download
New album bike ride song snippets: A VERSE!
I'm going to start sharing very exciting bike ride song snippets from the new album! Today, please enjoy this VERSE from “Layin Low” (track 6) and pre-order the album on vinyl, CD, or digital download!
Let’s take one more look at the numbers.
Happy Friday everyone. Just want to circle back before the weekend and highlight some key takeaways from the all hands Q4 meeting with our CEO regarding pre-sales for the new album. Thanks so much for signing on to the Zoom and we really appreciate all the feedforward so far. We’re pivoting to a focus on the music next week so let’s take one more quick deep dive into the numbers. Have a great weekend.
Internal Zoom Meeting Leaked!
One month of pre-sales = over 100 pre-orders! This week I’m going to share some clips from our top secret internal Zoom meeting with our elusive CEO about the campaign. Hopefully this will be a fun glimpse under the hood of the music business in 2025. Pre-order on vinyl, CD, or digital download now or consider participating in Operation Break Even!
Single version of “I Am John Mayer” streaming now!
“I Am John Mayer (Single Version)” is streaming now! Try before you buy, then pre-order the album! The single version is only the first half of the song — we’re not giving it all away to our tech overlords until maybe Christmas, maybe never. So listening to the single version is like stopping Forrest Gump after he meets Jenny in our nation’s capital. You would miss the shrimp boat thing, the “I was running” thing, and the whole Lieutenant Dan redemption arc! Get a link to stream/download the whole song immediately when you pre-order the album on vinyl, CD, or digital download now. ❤️🏆
I Am John Mayer: NEW ALBUM Pre-Order!
Hello! I am very excited to share that the album I have been working on since January is finished and available for pre-order now: Vinyl, Compact Disc, and Digital Download!
This one is particularly personal and special. It is called I Am John Mayer so it's sorta self-titled. It’s also the first one since North Star in 2018 that will materialize in physical media form: the vinyl and compact discs are being made right now! All pre-orders will receive a link to the making of documentary and the first single, “I Am John Mayer." A single version of this song will be streaming on Spotify/Apple/etc in a couple weeks, but it's just the first half. Our tech overlords may eventually have the whole song and possibly the whole album, but let's just keep it between us for now.
The most recent Audiode (85) is a collection of phone conversations with some of my favorite recording artist friends about their relationships to their own recordings. I found it quite enlightening and enjoyable to hear other people talk about that process as I get ready to part with this one. To be really honest with you, this moment right here is very vulnerable. I’ve been working on making this all year. I made it with a band of musicians who are also some of my best friends in a fancy studio. I stepped far outside of my comfort zone to work with a new team of engineers. I have spent so much time and treasure to finish it…and now it’s going to be heard or ignored and heard later or listened to and dismissed or enjoyed and everything in between.
Also, I have to acknowledge that in light of current events, this all feels quite ridiculous. But writing songs and recording them and singing them is how I am most authentically myself during this particular existence so it is what it is. My friend Robert said it best in that Audiode so I’ll quote him here:
“At the time you are that person and you know that’s the best you can do and later on you think jeez…all right, well I’m called to do this, I have to do it to be me, this is what I want to do, and if that’s the way I sound, well, I’m gonna have to roll with that. That’s the option available.”
Sincerely,
John
Central Coast Travelogue
Central Coast Travelogue! VLOG?!? Very fun and good and pretty and productive and successful mini tour. Wrote two new songs too! One co-write with Charlie Wolf (The Small Calamities) and one about being a dada on the mid-career road. ❤️🏆
Doing Stuff Without A Car: Taking Three Buses To A Gig.
"Johnny Elliott" takes a total of six buses (three there and three back) to a gig. Thank you to SFMTA and SamTrans for the rides!
Doing Stuff Without A Car: Going To The Mall.
Exciting episode: an altercation with suburban mall security, a single version of The War On Cars song streaming now, and our first sponsor! Vote for Suzanimal for the High Sierra Music Festival band contest by May 9th! ♥️🏆
May 3rd at The Chapel
Beautiful space in San Francisco opening for local legend Sean Hayes. Really looking forward to this one. A bunch of new songs and maybe an old one? Tickets.
Boy, I’ll tell you. I’ve been on a little “digital detox” from social media since April 1 and whoa. Signing back in to the Meta platforms to promote this show does not feel good. It is a form of mind control. I’ve been slowly pulling away from those spaces for awhile, deleted my personal Facebook page in 2015, and I’m going to take this experience as a clear indication to continue in that direction.
Ways to stay connected? This website and weblog is always going to be here. I do like YouTube despite the obvious mind control and nefarious dealings over there. And signing up on my e-mail list is the best way to stay connected and has been since the Bush administration. Go here and scroll down.
Oh and Substack now I guess too? But probably not? Time will tell.
Coming home from a gig.
The exciting conclusion of recent Dollar Car Rental odyssey includes fascinating revelation of paradigm shift that occurs outside of a car + a delicious detour to Flourcraft Bakery! ♥️🏆 (please note: you return Dollar Car Rental cars to Hertz at this location because all bets are off and chaos reigns).
Going to a gig.
You have to use the right tool for the job. Even singer/songcyclists drive occasionally. Tire dust is the primary cause of microplastics and because EVs are heavier than gas cars they create more microplastic pollutants so lots going on here that is upsetting and the result of a series of awful collective choices, but on the plus side the show at Little Saint was wonderful with tremendous hospitality, excellent sound, and exceptional food (lion’s mane buffalo “wings” ?! 😍🏆). Stay tuned for part 2…
Los Angeles Benefit Show.
It was an honor to play the KC Turner Presents benefit show for Los Angeles at Hopmonk Novato. Many inspiring performances by many artists + beautiful sold out gathering of community + $30,000 raised for the LA Fire Department Foundation. Megan Slankard’s cover of “America” just broke me wide open. I really felt the weight of this moment in the USA for the first time and began a grieving process of sorts. European friends are asking why we’re not protesting. Some are. Some are in shock. Some are stoked. But many are simply grieving. The stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. These stages are not linear. And we all continue to look for America. ♥️
“I’m Not Going Anywhere This Christmas”
“I’m Not Going Anywhere This Christmas” is hereby unleashed upon the streamers! Stream away on Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, YouTube, everywhere else and still on Bandcamp! Add it to your holiday playlists please and every year grant this little tune two minutes in between Wham and Bing and Mariah and all those other ones and face unafraid the plans that you made! 🎄🏆♥️ You can also download the chords and lyrics and play along at home!
New original Christmas song!
Here is a brand new, very hot off the presses, original Christmas song! This might be my fastest turnaround ever from recording to release: we made it the day after Thanksgiving — just a week ago! “I’m Not Going Anywhere This Christmas” is for all the introverts out there this extroverted holiday season. I hope it slides somewhere into your holiday playlist and becomes part of your seasonal soundtrack ritual. I am wishing you and yours a peaceful, quiet, tranquil holiday season with it. “I’m Not Going Anywhere This Christmas” will be streaming on all the streamers in a couple weeks, but for now it only lives on Bandcamp…and it’s Bandcamp Friday! It’s $1 or more or free. There’s a link in my story or you can look for it on the internet or via the link in my bio or many other ways. Collaborators: recorded by Matt McDavid at 2200 Studios in Sausalito, CA (I’m playing the piano that was used on “Don’t Stop Believing”), mastered by Adam Ayan, Band of Supervisors member Oscar Westesson on upright bass, and cozy artwork by Tammy Quinelle. Merry Christmas! 🎄✨
