This past SXSW 2009, on a showcase presented by Wax Poetics, Ubiquity and Stones Throw Records, a bespectacled white kid from Detroit brought a packed Scoot Inn to its collective knees. His falsetto crooning and deep soul grooves harkened the ghosts of Motown, and introduced a new face to the world of groove. SXSW sat down with Mayer Hawthorne to get the scoop on this mysterious new voice.

SXSW: Mayer, you seem to have popped up from out of nowhere. I don’t want to call you an overnight sensation but…

Mayer: Well, I got signed to Stones Throw last November, and the album came out in September, so it hasn’t even been a year. “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” was the first song that I ever wrote. And then when I got signed to Stones Throw, I had only ever written and recorded two songs, that was it, that was all I had. They put those two out on the red heart shaped (vinyl) single and then they were trying to hold off and build some buzz while I recorded the rest of the album. I had to write a whole album and record it, and I did everything myself. I wrote everything myself, played all the instruments, sang everything myself, arranged, produced and recorded everything by myself in my bedroom. You know, it’s a long process. I was lucky enough that the songs kind of kept coming to me.

SXSW: So you were basically messing around with a new sound in your bedroom and realized that you were a deep soul singer? And then you got a deal? I thought labels weren’t handing out deals to undeveloped artists these days.

Mayer: Sort of. At first I was really worried about whether or not I’d be able to come up with a whole album worth of material, but honestly I have songs written for the next album already. It came together really fast. Part of that is being on an indie label and being able to just drop shit as soon as I get it done. The problem with being on a major is it could have been another year before this album even came out.

SXSW: And you say you played all the instruments on this album?

Mayer: Yeah. Drums, bass, electric piano, synthesizers, tambourine, handclaps, electric sitar, bells, and even a glockenspiel. I did all the back up vocals by myself.

SXSW: The album sounds really accomplished, were you trained in all of those instruments?

Mayer: Some of them I don’t really play, I just get by. But bass, guitar, drums and piano, I’ve been playing those forever. My dad taught me to play bass when I was six-years-old. He’s a dope bass player and he still plays bass in a band in Michigan to this day. I took a few drum lessons and a few piano lessons when I was a kid, but I never really stuck with that. It’s more improvisational. I didn’t have a budget or anything. I couldn’t just go and hire a bunch of dope sessions musicians and pay them to be there in the studio, I had to kind of do everything myself.

SXSW: Well you obviously can’t play everything live, what’s the touring band, The County, consist of?

Mayer: Drums, bass, keyboards, guitar and vocals. I’ve got a Micro-Korg that I play a few things on. We do a cover of ELO’s ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ and I use a vocoder. I play tambourine almost every song. I’m really lucky to be able to have all of my favorite musicians in the world in my band. I asked them to be in my band and everybody was like ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ It’s just been incredible. The live shows have been incredible, I’ve never seen a better band out there, they make my job easy. I’ll be touring for the rest of the year to support this album. I’ll be going to Europe after the U.S. tour.

SXSW: Wow, all that just months after your first ever show at SXSW 2009?

Mayer: Yeah, SXSW was our first show as Mayer Hawthorne & the County. We were on the Wax Poetics showcase and it was unbelievable. People really came out to see us, and we had no idea what to expect. We didn’t think anybody knew who we were and it was really incredible. We’ve come a long way since then.
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See Mayer Hawthorne & the County on the road with Buff1 and 14kt all across the U.S. in October with shows in: New Orleans, Tucson and San Diego in addition to a stop in Austin at Red 7 on October 10th. The European leg of the tour will kick off October 24 in Glasgow with subsequent shows in Leeds, Bristol, London and more.

Click here to see all the tour dates and to get a free song from Mayer Hawthorne, compliments of Stones Throw Records.

Mayer Hawthorne photo courtesy of Schiko