The Village Sessions

Infobox Album
Name = The Village Sessions
Type = ep
Artist = John Mayer


Caption = The Village Sessions
Released = December 12, 2006
Recorded = Late 2004–early 2005
The Village Recorder
Los Angeles, California [http://mixonline.com/recording/projects/audio_john_mayer/ MixOnline] article about the album's creation. (Article cites December 27 2004 as being first Village Recorder session.)]
Genre = Blues rock
Label = Aware Records
Columbia Records
Sony Music
Producer = John Mayer
Chad Franscoviak
Length =
Reviews =
*Blog Critics rating|4|5 [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/25/075545.php link]
*Okayplayer Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/index.php/weblog/more/the_village_sessions/ link]
Last album = "Continuum"
(2006)
This album = "The Village Sessions"
(2006)
Next album = "Where the Light Is"
(2008)

"The Village Sessions" is an EP released by blues-rock artist John Mayer on December 12, 2006. [http://www.awarestore.com/item15653 "The Village Sessions"] page at "Aware Store".] Collaborators include John Mayer Trio members Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino, along with Ben Harper, Robbie McIntosh, of The Pretenders, and Ricky Peterson, of Mayer's touring band and former producer for Prince albums. The six-song EP contains acoustic and alternate versions of songs found on Mayer's third studio album, "Continuum", and his trio's live album, "Try!". Mayer co-produced the album with engineer Chad Franscoviak.

Though the EP was released at about the same time as Mayer’s single, "Gravity," the song itself does not appear on this EP, much like Mayer's singles "Daughters" and "Bigger Than My Body" were not on his live album, "As/Is", despite being the current singles at the time of its release. Like the "As/Is" series before it, "The Village Sessions" was made available on iTunes, on May 15, 2007.

Release

Originally, the EP was only available at indie record stores and at the online Aware Records store in limited quantities. [http://www.johnmayer.com/news#1 Mayer's Site's Official Announcement] of "The Village Sessions"' release.] The album was released on December 12, 2006, and copies had sold out on the Aware Store as of December 23, 2006. However, it is now also available on Amazon.com. In May 2007, "The Village Sessions" was released on iTunes with a special video featuring the making of "In Repair" as heard on "The Village Sessions". The video shows the song being recorded within one day.

On December 6, 2007, the acoustic version of "Belief" from "The Village Sessions" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, a category that Mayer had previously won three times.

Track listing

# "Waiting on the World to Change" (Ben Harper version)
# "Belief" (acoustic version)
# "Slow Dancing In a Burning Room" (acoustic version)
# "Good Love is On the Way" (acoustic version)
# "I'm Gonna Find Another You" (acoustic version)
# "In Repair" (acoustic version)

There is a video "In Repair: One Song, One Day" about the recording process of "In Repair" available exclusively on iTunes.

References