John Mayer Canceling Performances, Pushing Back Album

Fans hoping to see John Mayer’s fifth album hit stores this year will need to wait a few months more. According to TMZ, the blues guitarist and songwriter canceled two performances and pushed back the release date for Born and Raised because of his vocal chords. More specifically, Mayer mentioned on his blog that he has a granuloma, a nodule, in his throat.

Mayer was scheduled to perform at the iheartradio music festival and with Tony Bennett in Los Angeles. On his blog, he explained that he was canceling the performances and provided a bit more depth into his condition and the current state of his album: “‘Born and Raised’ is complete as far as music recording, song selection, and in some cases mixing, but because of this condition I couldn’t finish singing on several of the tracks. This means the record will be released next year instead of this fall or winter.

“This is a temporary setback, though I’m not sure how long or short a period of time it will be. I’ve got the best doctors in the country looking after me and I will be singing and touring again as soon as I get the all clear. Until then I’ll be spending time writing and composing more music and kicking an empty soup can around the West Village.”

Mayer claimed last year that he was quitting Twitter – and all forms of social media – to focus on his album, which has since manifested as Born and Raised. In July 2011, he told students at Berklee College in Boston why he quit social media and his rules for recording this time around: "I realized about a year ago that I couldn’t have a complete thought anymore, and I was a tweetaholic. I had four million Twitter followers, and I was always writing on it. And I stopped using Twitter as an outlet and I started using Twitter as the instrument to riff on, and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn’t write a song. […] Here are the rules for recording this record: No drum machines, no loops, no keyboards to start out with, no excuses, no breaks, no laptops, no nothing. If you take a break, it’s to eat. If you’re done, you go home."

Mayer has played some tracks for Born and Raised live this year. To hear what his album may sound like, watch his performance below: