“John was goofy, gawky, and really tasty. I took him on the road, and he would steal the show every night”: Michelle Malone on John Mayer's early days and how she ended up becoming his mentor

Michelle Malone is a bona fide guitar veteran. Having released a multitude of albums since the '80s, shared stages with Gregg Allman, Sugarland's Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles, and Brandi Carlile, and reinvented herself by creating her own mix of Southern rock, Americana, and blues, Malone has her fair share of stories from the road, including her role as a mentor to John Mayer.

“He moved to Atlanta and started showing up at my gigs begging to sit in, so I finally let him," she recalls in a new Guitar World interview.

“He was goofy, gawky, and really tasty. He played with me a lot live and on my record Homegrown in 1999. I took him on the road with me, and he would steal the show every night. Some people come out fully formed. He was one of those people. I was a late bloomer who got signed too soon!”

Michelle Malone live at Paste Studio on the Road: Nashville @ Jaan's House - YouTube

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Two years later, Mayer would release his debut solo album, Room for Squares. Lead single Your Body is a Wonderland won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, while Mayer himself was nominated for Best New Artist.

But it was with Malone that he cut his touring teeth before hitting the big time. And Malone herself was shaped by her native Atlanta.

“Atlanta had a rich and diverse music scene,” she says. “I used to sneak into this little club called Hedgen's to see the Georgia Satellites when I was a teen; it really changed my life.

“I didn't know local bands could rock like the [Rolling] Stones! I also would see jazz and blues and folk and singer-songwriters; I love it all because my family performed and raised me on all music.”

Malone is set to release her upcoming album, Southern Comfort, an Americana-flavored Southern rock singer-songwriter record co-written with Dean Dillon, of Tennessee Whiskey fame, on October 4 via SBS Records.