Mayer, Rice, Gray: Lock Up Your Womenfolk

Hah! They fool me not with their sensitivity and emotional vulnerability: they are in it for the tang. My MSNBC.com article:

Following a spirited launch by Sheryl Crow last week, the “Today” show post-dawn concert series continues this Friday with John Mayer, the triply talented, hugely popular jazzy pop-rock singer, songwriter and guitarist. But — and I speak as a concerned husband and father — don’t let Mayer’s gentle romanticism, clean-cut “perfect boyfriend” facade and deeply expressive facial contortions fool you America – he has COME FOR YOUR WOMEN, and his scheme has wildly succeeded in sending the heart of many a young woman aflutter.

Women, I know Mayer’s type: avoiding the full frontal alpha male confrontation of testosterone and estrogen, Mayer and those of his ilk lull and beguile you. They don’t ram through the front door guns blazing, they slip in through a side entrance using understanding, self-deprecating humor, intelligence, and sensitivity: “your body is a wonderland” indeed!

Mayer’s Plot Thickens

John Mayer has fellow travelers in quiet seduction, singer/songwriters like Damien Rice and David Gray, and even enablers. Despite the fact that Mayer had already performed in the spotlight of the televised Grammy Awards in early ’03, won a Grammy in the same show (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Your Body Is a Wonderland”), and sold 3.5 million copies of his debut album “Room For Squares,” when guest host Jack Black introduced him as the musical performer on the season opener of “Saturday Night Live” last October, Black mispronounced his last name as “Meyer,” clearly manipulating the protective instincts of vulnerable females from coast to coast!

I reluctantly admit, however, that Mayer, 26, has much to offer besides pouty lips and bedroom eyes scanning his sold-out shows for dewy female bounty. After growing up in Connecticut and briefly attending the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Mayer and his guitar settled in Atlanta in the late ’90s, where he steadily played the clubs, wrote songs and developed an enthusiastic following for his cool Dave Matthews-meets-Michael Franks voice, elegant, propulsive guitar accompaniment, and sophisticated melodies, all very well demonstrated in his self-released ’99 EP “Inside Wants Out.”

Mayer appeared triumphantly at the South by Southwest Music Festival in early 2000 and was signed to Columbia, which released “Room For Squares” in ’01. On the strength of enduring singles “No Such Thing,” the dangerously appealing “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” and almost nonstop touring, Mayer tapped into both the adult alternative market that made Norah Jones a superstar, and enraptured girls of all ages.

Mayer further solidified his grip with “Heavier Things,” a Billboard number one-charting album released last September, blessed with two more winning singles, “Clarity” and “Bigger Than My Body.” Millions more will be exposed to Mayer’s charms Friday morning – don’t say you weren’t warned….

Please click over for Mayer’s fellow dogs Rice and Gray.