John Mayer

Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).

Mayer considered skipping college to pursue his music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.

Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.

Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.

In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.

By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.

In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.

Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.

As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares". However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.

In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.

Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.

In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.

Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.

Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.

Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.

The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.

On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".

Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana, he began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.

On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.

In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.

Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact shouldn't absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."

Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.

In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.

On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.

As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.

On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for her second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.

After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed US$45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.

Pop singer Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said,

Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.

Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.

The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.

In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine. In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said,

Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with " Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:

With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.

By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.

In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.

During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.

Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".

In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.

In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".

In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.

Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.

Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.

Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.

As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.

Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.

On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019.

The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:

During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."

In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".

In 2019, Mayer released two singles; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6. On an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process in writing and recording songs for a new album.

On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.

In 2020, Perez Hilton revealed in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 when they were at a Chelsea club in NYC, Mayer came up to Hilton saying, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on' then french-kissed Hilton.