John Mayer Gets Heavy

(CBS)  John Mayer hit the music scene back in 2001 with his debut album "Room for Squares" – a quadruple platinum offering.

The singer/songwriter is not only popular with fans; he is a favorite of critics, too. Mayer earned a Grammy award for best pop vocal performance for the single "Your Body is a Wonderland."

Now, Mayer has a new CD, "Heavier Things." On The Early Show's Summer Concert Series, the 26-year-old performed "Come Back To Bed" and "Clarity" from the CD and "No Such Thing" from "Room for Squares."

"Heavier Things" is different from "Room for Squares" in that it reflects his growth. But topping a quadruple platinum album is not easy, Mayer tells co-anchor Rene Syler.

"What it comes down to is staying in touch," Mayer says. "If you're in touch with people, then the songs that you like hopefully, other people will like them. I think the danger is falling out of touch with the kind of normalcy. And then, nobody writes songs they don't like. The real 'x' factor is what you like versus what other people like."

Asked how he keeps himself grounded, he says, "Always find people better than you to hang around. Seriously. I'm the lamest person I know."

Mayer says in his bio that listeners will be able to understand who he is if they listen to the song "Clarity," which features jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove and ?uestlover from The Roots on drums.

"Heavier Things" was tracked in New York, Mayer's present home, and completed in LA. The album contains several songs Mayer had been performing live during his Summer 2003 tour of amphitheaters and arenas. Those songs include, "Come Back To Bed," "Wheel," and "Something's Missing."

Musically, he says his biggest influences have been Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray.