John Mayer may have been educated at the Berkeley College of Music, but for the last two years, Mayer has been receiving a real education from playing on the road with jazz and blues greats such as Herbie Hancock, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, John Scofield and most regularly with blues legend Buddy Guy. Even though Mayer is generally considered a "Dave Matthews Lite" ladies pleaser by most critics and audiences, he has frequently written columns in Esquire Magazine fondly expressing his love for the blues and R&B, and these legends in turn have been showing him the ropes, honing his skills and fine-tuning Mayer into a blues player who can hold his own on stage with any of the above-mentioned icons.

Like a proud child that wants to show off his new toy, Mayer has put together a power trio in the vein of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble and released Try! a live album put together with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino, very well respected studio mainstays in their own right. What Jordan and Palladino do best for Mayer is continually raise the bar with their talents, thereby challenging the likable kid to hang with them as they push ever higher. These new heights have spawned seven new Mayer penned blues oriented tracks, the best of the bunch being the barn burning self-titled track and one called "Out Of My Mind" which is heavily influenced by the guitar playing of King and Clapton. Another great power trio, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, gets the love of cover treatment on the lesser known "Wait Until Tomorrow" and Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman," which has seen a rebirth of sorts with Kayne West's "Gold Digger" is covered here brilliantly as well.

The only misstep on Try! is when Mayer bows to peer pressure to please fans with faithful interpretations of "Something's Missing" and "Daughters" both of which are on his Heavier Things album. If they would have been reworked blues versions that would have been something interesting, but here these retreads just feel out of place. But for the most part, Try! is a triumphant showcase for the Mayer's hipper alter-ego. At the very least it's a wise move for the successful younster to prove that he's not interested in being pigeonholed into one style of music for the rest of his career. How refreshing that truly is in this watered-down "bottom line-minded" pop music factory world we now live in.