Mayer Hawthorne, and tributes to his inspirations

September 2, 2011 1:30 PM

Back in May of this year, Mayer Hawthorne put together a free collection of covers and descriptions of the tracks. The collection includes covers of The Isley Brothers (Work To Do, 1972), Chromeo (Don't Turn The Lights On, 2010), The Festivals (You’ve Got The Makings Of A Lover, late 1960s), Shorty's Portion (Fantasy Girl or Child, 1975?), Jon Brion (Little Person, 2008), and Electric Light Orchestra (Mr. Blue Sky, 1977). Chances are that you've heard of (or at least heard from) most of these artists, except Shorty's Portion, a one-off band with a small-run album. The group was centered around Steve Salazar, who was born with a hole in his heart, and died just short of his 27th birthday.

OK, you probably haven't heard from The Festivals from Dallas, Texas, either, but there's not much of them online.

For good measure, here are official videos for tracks from Mayer Hawthorn's debut album: Just Ain't Gonna Work Out | Maybe So, Maybe No | Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin' | I Wish It Would Rain | One Track Mind | Green Eyed Love

posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

Thanks for this, flt.
posted by Wyatt at 4:07 PM on September 2, 2011

Thanks for posting!
posted by Don92705 at 4:08 PM on September 2, 2011

Very impressive post, thanks.
posted by Roachbeard at 6:18 PM on September 2, 2011

I'd call myself a Mayer Hawthorne fan and a Stones Throw Records fan, and I hadn't heard about this...

Nice post, thanks!
posted by rollbiz at 10:37 PM on September 2, 2011

Stones Throw Records has a fantastic podcast, by the way...
posted by rollbiz at 10:39 PM on September 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

This was a fun one (well, they all are). I came across the covers a week ago, but only skimmed the information on the original artists. Then I read about the sad story of Steve Salazar, expecting this footnote to be the only web reference to this limited-run record. Lo and behold, a story from someone who knew Steve, and the album! I wish there were more pics of the record, or some hint as to how RateYourMusic came up with a 1975 release date.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:47 PM on September 2, 2011

Thanks for this, filthy light thief; that Isley Brothers song is a corker.
posted by hot soup girl at 10:10 AM on September 3, 2011