Although initially released through Stones Throw Records as an exclusive, free giveaway, Mayer Hawthorne‘s Impressions: The Covers EP featured the Los Angeles, CA-based soul singer/songwriter, arranger, producer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist covering some profoundly unheralded and extremely-well written songs — and not only did it reveal to me that the Grammy-nominated artist may arguably be one of contemporary music’s best songwriters and vocalists, the effort landed on this site’s Best of 2011 as several songs hit a deeply personal chord in what was one of the more difficult, heartbreaking years of my life.
The Los Angeles-based soul artist has been rather prolific since Impressions as he’s released some attention-grabbing solo material, collaborated with Jake One in Tuxedo, and then released one of the funkiest and most fun albums of 2014, labelmate M.E.D. and for Jaded Incorporated. So strangely enough, while checking out the video, which would wind up comprising this site’s previous post, the related video tab on YouTube brought up live footage of Mayer Hawthorne and backing band playing a breezy cover of ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky,” on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic several years ago and coincidentally, the track appears on Impressions. The internet is a wonderful place, is it not?