John Mayer - "Gravity"

What can you say about John Mayer? He's dreamy, he dates celebrities, he writes cheesy songs, and man, can he play the guitar. His new album, "Battle Studies", came out yesterday.

I can't say a lot about his songwriting skills - they just don't get me excited. And that's the unfortunate conundrum for Mayer, as I see it. I always remember this line from a Rolling Stone interview of a few years ago: "Ask John Mayer if he is a guitarist or a singer-songwriter, and he replies immediately: 'Always a guitarist.'" It's a tale of two artists: the pop artist seeking to sell records, and the musician seeking to reach beyond his core audience for greater recognition.

At the 2007 Crossroads Festival - Eric Clapton's guitar-fest with a remarkable collection of mostly blues guitarists - Mayer arrived to a stadium of people who likely didn't know him, and likely had preconceived expectations of what they were about to witness. Mayer wowed with his playing and got a good chunk of that recognition he sought. Returning to the festival a year later, Mayer was all the more confident, and all the more welcomed too.

Here's "Gravity" from the 2008 show.