John Mayer’s First Single in Five Years: “Tom and Jerry” Continues His Nostalgic Country Roots and ’80s Sheen

John Clayton Mayer is a modern-day guitar god who recently had this obsession with country and yacht rock aesthetics that have been divisive creative departures, mostly among his most loyal fans.

You either know the previously controversial pop guitar savant as the "Your Body is a Wonderland" acoustic guy, the dude who dated Taylor Swift and a whole rolodex of Hollywood A-listers and musicians, or a living blues guitar hero who inspired an entire generation to pick up a guitar.

If you ask a Mayer fan or even someone who just listened to a lot of music in the past 20 years, most of them would agree that his blues-pop record Continuum (2006) is his magnum opus, with iconic tracks such as "Gravity," "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room," and "Dreaming with a Broken Heart" being used by the local Joe Schmoes to test out guitars and pianos at music stores.

Now he's back after five years with a song that started out as a voice note that resulted in a single reminiscent of his stuff from The Search for Everything (2019) and a bit of Sob Rock.

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Tom and Jerry by John Mayer

I am personally part of that generation that held Room for Squares (2001), Heavier Things (2003), and Continuum as scripture when learning how to write music and how to phrase your guitar playing with the utmost feel and stank.

Throughout each of his distinct genre-hopping eras, I found a lot of things to resonate with: the pure euphoric rock tunes from Battle Studies (2009), the country and even Dylan-esque stylings on Born and Raised (2012) and Paradise Valley (2013).

Whenever I'm in a creative rut, I whip out my DVD copy of the legendary Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles concert film, which changed countless lives and is quintessential proof of how special and how much of a master Mayer is at his craft (echoing the highest praise from Eric Clapton).

It is pretty obvious that Mayer's last two albums are just him having fun without making records that are too technically complicated and a lot of times having less guitar in these songs.

"Tom and Jerry" follows the same school of thought as Sob Rock and The Search for Everything, with the production still leaning into this long-term 80's sheen and yacht-rock/country-adjacent sound that Mayer seems to be obsessed playing with.

He also released a live vocal performance video in black and white that was the first time in a while that I've seen him without a guitar in hand. A pretty alien scene for longtime Mayer fans considering that the song barely has any guitar in it or a memorable guitar melody.

Sob Rock was a very pristine record with a few standout tracks like Last Train Home, Wild Blue, and "I Guess I Just Feel Like (partly because of that prolonged blues solo)." But a lot of keen listeners see Mayer as a master of his instrument and even someone who could make more conceptual or layered records if he wanted to.

Maybe it's just because "Tom and Jerry" hasn't just grown on me, but the track on first impression is a really boring song that seems to be following this country-obssessed trend in the US charts litered with a blandfest of derivative tracks from the likes of Stella Lefty and Ella Langley.

I desperately yearn for a more poignant and more tasteful sonic era from Mayer, who I still see as one of my heroes.

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