Call it an attack, or an observation, but John Mayer pointed out the one issue he has with country music while sitting across from one of the biggest country music stars on the planet.
Lainey Wilson recently sat down with John Mayer on his How’s Life with John Mayer SiriusXM show to discuss anything and everything about her career. The two talked about songwriting, how Lainey got out of a ticket when she was 15-years-old (by writing a song), her ventures into acting, and what country music does best.
In preparation for the interview, Mayer listened to Lainey Wilson’s catalogue nonstop, and there was one song that he says left him speechless:
“My jaw dropped listening to a song called ‘Wait in the Truck.’ Holy s*** Lainey. This song, the music has an ominous keyboard line that exactly says, ‘Wait in the truck.’ Fragments of speech is what country does the best. You know what that means… everyone needs to listen to ‘Wait in the Truck.'”
The 2023 hit, which was actually released by HARDY and featured Lainey, is definitely one that you should check out if you haven’t already.
The conversation in and around that song prompted Mayer to ask Wilson about drinking songs. The “4X4XU” singer doesn’t have a ton in her discography, but she said it’s definitely something that country music is known for. That’s when John Mayer decided to speak on the one thing that he has a problem with when it comes to the country genre:
“My hottest take about country, the only critical take about country… it’s the constant invocation of drinking. Everyone loves drinking. So when you think about drinking, you get excited. When you hear about drinking, you have a smile on your face.
To me, sometimes, it’s a little bit of a cheat. Because it’s like telling people, ‘Remember how cool tequila is? My song is playing while you are thinking about tequila.’ See what I’m saying?”
Lainey Wilson responded by saying it “feels that way for sure.”
Mayer piggybacked off of that by discussing another “cheat” that he feels like country music leans on a little too often. Much like mentioning alcohol in a song, the “Last Train Home” singer thinks that referencing country music greats in the middle of your track creates a bit of a crowded thought process for the listener:
“The other thing they do is being somewhere and listening to a legendary artist on the radio. I’m like, ‘Well now you are making me think about the legendary artist. I love that legendary artist.’ It’s a bit of a cheat. You put them both in a song, ‘Well I like tequila and Hank Williams, I’m liking this song.’ It’s a little bit like performance enhancing (drugs).”
Lainey argued that all of that can go back to country music setting the scene, and there’s no doubt that the country music genre is great about imagery. And she didn’t necessarily disagree with John Mayer.
Like I said earlier, it came off as more observational by the 48-year-old artist than it did accusatory… especially considering John Mayer has crossed over and worked with plenty of country music artists in the past (Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, etc.) and has voiced his support for the power that the country genre possesses.
You can check out the trailer for the How’s Life with John Mayer episode below (you’ll need SiriusXM to access the full interview):
