Maybe it’s because it’s an unusually cloudy day in L.A., or maybe I’ve got a contact high from just listening to that new Kid Cudi track, or maybe I just need something completely different after Drakeapalooza, but I’m feeling laid back today, and that’s why I’m really digging Mayer Hawthorne’s new track “Held the Hand”. Listen and download…

Mayer Hawthorne, the retro soul soaked singer who we last saw tearing it up live, has taken Snoop and The-Dream’s hit single “Gangsta Luv” and reworked it into a Motown hit, giving it a live instrument feel and transforming the booty smacking anthem into a song I can picture Hugh Hefner throwing on in the Playboy mansion while wearing a velvet robe and drinking cognac. Listen and download…

Very few modern artists can truly pay proper homage to classic soul and r&b, but the eclectically talented Mayer Hawthorne is definitely one of them. Last week Hawthorne’s unique brand of retro-soul was on full display at New York’s Webster Hall Mayer as he crooned to a spellbound audience just like a classic Motown artist would have back in the day. See more…