Mayer managed to successfully keep hidden away from thepublic eye to create one of his most sincere collections of music since hisfall from grace with the media a couple of years ago. The composition for thisalbum is broken down to its bare bones.
While ‘Shadow Days’ touches upon his struggle with coming toterms with his struggle with himself, songs like ‘Walt Grace's Submarine Test,January 1967’ reflect on how people can literally achieve the impossible whenthey persist against insurmountable odds. ‘Fool to Love You’ highlights howthough a man may be faced with the prospect of falling into a rut that causesnothing but anguish, it’s still easy to do so purely out of habit. ‘SomethingLike Olivia’ counters the previous song’s theme by showcasing Mayer’s opinionof the perfect woman, and how even though she ‘belongs’ to another man, helooks for her in every woman he meets.
Recorded primarily in Electric Lady Studios in New YorkCity, Born and Raised takesa more emotional turn, revealing a vulnerable Mayer in 12 tracks of varying poignancy.It is doubtlessly a far more bluegrass record than anything he has released todate and features old-school folk-poppers such as David Crosby and Graham Nash,plus Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell. Their influences clear ingiving Mayer’s new foray into uncharted waters that typical sun-dappled'70s-radio vibe. Many of the new songs may sound like sing-along soft hits, buthis lyrics are just as rich as some of his darker music from previous albums.
Born and Raisedhas become his third chart-topping LP. Mayer’s first album in three yearsdebuts atop the Billboard Top 200, on the strength of 219,000 copies sold. Earlycritical praise for Born and Raisedhas been overwhelmingly positive with RollingStone referring to it as "Some of the most convincing music of Mayer'scareer".
