Mayer Hawthorne (real name: Andrew Cohen) is a 34 year old Ann Arbor Michigan native who created a buzz in the neo-soul scene in 2009 when he released his debut album
A Strange Arrangement.
Album cover for A Strange Arrangement (2009)
Don't let his "lord of the dorks" appearance fool you, Hawthorne is a first rate R&B/Soul musician who produces, writes, arranges, plays all the instruments and sings all the vocal parts on his albums. He has the kind of musical talent we all wish we were born with.
Just Ain't Gonna Work Out sounds like a song that could have appeared on an old Chi-Lites album in the '70s.
In October 2011, Hawthrone released his second album,
How Do You Do, which had an even better set of songs than his debut. Shortly thereafter Kanye West declared Hawthorne to be totally cool & in doing so expanded his audience, but Hawthorne remains a bit of a cult figure on the fringes of the neo-soul & alternative music scene in the USA.
Album cover for How Do You Do (2011)
The song
A Long Time is Hawthorne's heartfelt tribute to the city of Detriot, the Ford Motor Company & Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. The song recalls some of the hopeful, socially conscious songs written by Curtis Mayfield in his prime.
The Walk is a breezy shuffle-time song that oozes the classic Philly soul sound of the early '70s.