John Mayer in 1998

Southern Sojourn

After two semesters at Boston's Berklee College of Music, Mayer drops out to pursue music and relocates to Atlanta, Georgia. "Atlanta's my musical home," he says in 2003. "It really was the place where I really came alive." He becomes a frequent performer at local blues clubs, self-releases his first album, InsideWants Out, and performs at the prestigious South by Southwest Music Festival in 2000, where he lands a contract with Columbia Records' Aware Records.