Hip Hop

Mayer Hawthorne wins at white boy soul

Stones Throw CEO Peanut Butter Wolf is a vinylphile of the highest caliber, so when recently signed artist Mayer Hawthorne first played his music for Wolf it led to skepticism and confusion. “He showed me two songs and I didn’t understand what I was listening to,” Wolf recalls. “I asked him if they were old songs that he did re-edits of – I couldn’t believe they were new songs and that he played all the instruments.”

Hawthorne, a 29-year-old from Ann Arbor, MI, cites Smokey Robinson and Curtis Mayfield as two of his biggest influences. His lead single "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out" is like a vocal ode to these high voiced legends.

Posted on July 20, 2009. More on: curtis mayfield, mayer hawthorne, peanut butter wolf, smokey robinson, stones throw records