Clay Cook

JM: I made a friend at Berklee, Clay Cook, who was from Atlanta, and we started writing songs together. We both decided to withdraw from the college at the same time. Our withdrawal slips probably have consecutive numbers. We cowrote “No Such Thing,” he came up with the bridge chords. I never would have thought to put those in there. After a little while down in Atlanta, the partnership ran its course and ended. I was stuck there in Atlanta after having piggy-backed someone else’s life, car, and job. I remember getting to some pretty dismal places money-wise and opportunity-wise. I kind of looked at my guitar and said, “It’s just you and me. I’ll go where you take me.”

BB: John Mayer is here now. So I’m buds with the guys Zach Brown Band, and Clay Cook. And so - and I know the story—but, you and Clay were at Berklee together, and Clay was like, “Hey let’s move down to Atlanta together”, and you and Clay kind of had a duo together for a while, right?

JM: Sure, that’s how we started. That’s how I started right out of college was playing in an acoustic duo.

BB: So you moved down to Atlanta. Why Atlanta, of all places?

JM: He had, Clay had family in Atlanta. And said, he said there was great music scene down there. Which he was absolutely right. He did have family.

[Laughs]

And he wasn’t lying about either—family and a music scene. So we moved down there and just doing open mic nights and writing and—you know, that’s how I got my start in music was following him down to Atlanta.

We lived in Snellville, Georgia. Are you on the radio in Snellville, Georgia? “Where everybody is somebody.” That’s the catchphrase for the town.

BB: Is it “snail," like “snail” the bug?

JM: It’s “snell," but it’s pronounced “snaillville." “S-N-E-L-L.”

BB: So you guys move to Atlanta and you write a lot of things together.

JM: We had written five or six songs together at this point.

BB: So you decide to go your different ways. Was that a big decision for you two?

JM: Yes. Wow, no one’s ever cared about this.

Yeah. Falling out. We had a falling out.

BB: Creatively?

JM: Part of it. That was part of it. The part of it that I can attest to is that I have pretty big feet. Pretty strong head. I don’t think anyone could have been in a duo with me at that time. That’s the part that I can take responsibility for. That, I probably wasn’t very collaborative. Yeah, I don’t think that I was a strong group worker.

BB: What were roles in that duo? Cause everyone’s got their role inside of a team.

JM: He was, and still is, hyper-musical. Incredible musical mind. Um, and we were also by the way we are really good friends now.

BB: I’ve seen you play with him before, so I’m assuming now you guys are cool.

JM: Pure closeness. These are two kids who were the stars of their town—the musical stars of their town—coming together, obviously seeing something in one another that they identify with. Making music together, but never having really given over to someone else, and probably shouldn’t have. Two really strong solo kind of mind sets. Coming together to collaborate. And where I think if you’re still going like “well that still doesn’t add up," put me inside his life as a guest, and it gets a little strange.

It’s like two people sharing a birthday, you know. I entered his entire social life. I think there was an identity thing of like, wait what’s mine and what’s yours. And again, taking responsibility for it, I have very big shoes. I’m not necessarily subtle. Especially at that age. You didn’t want to mess around with young John, you don’t want to mess around with 19-year old John Mayer who just figured out that the world is bendable and he’s out to just destroy it.