I don’t recall the exact moment when John Mayer went from being one of my favorite modern pop artists to being one of my greatest musical and artistic inspirations, but somehow he’s managed to weasel onto a list amongst Jeff Buckley and Thom Yorke.

To me, John Mayer is the quintessential artist who has evolved over every album in both his guitar-playing and song-writing. It doesn’t hurt that he has legendary musicians like Steve Jordan, Charlie Hunter and Pino Palladino playing in his rhythm section, but i don’t think they would be writing and playing with him if they weren’t elated with his musical prowess. Platinum-selling Grammy-winning albums aside, his biggest accomplishment to date has got to be bringing the blues and blues guitar back to the realm of coolness.

John is currently 7 songs into a new album and using his blog, youtube and twitter to help him keep in touch with his fans and the media alike. If he ever decides to quit music, he might want to consider teaching social media marketing, this guy just gets it.

John Mayer in Japan (Battle Studies pt.3)