Troll the Stones Throw site and you’re bound to find a gem, usually sooner than later. That’s how I found out about Mayer Hawthorne, a Michigan-bred soul singer who inexplicably channels the Motown era to which he surely grew up listening.
Why inexplicably? Well, for starters, he’s white. Give Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out a listen and you’ll understand. Mark Ronson played it on his radio show and commented: “I have no idea what it is … old, new. It’s fucking good.” (You can hear the clip at Hawthorne’s MySpace page.) If I didn’t know better, I swear it’s a track I could have pulled from the collection of 45s and Wurlitzer jukebox my dad handed down to me.
What’s more, Hawthorne played all the instruments. Check his bio at Stones Throw.
You can order this amazing-looking heart-shaped 45 for the Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out, which spins in the video below.
This song is ridiculously good. If I put it on, I just let it loop over and over and over again. Even the video is mesmerizing.