John Mayer lit up the Hamptons with a star-studded audience during his exclusive concert for SiriusXM at the legendary Stephen Talkhouse on Wednesday night. In an unexpected moment, he paid a subtle tribute to music icon Dolly Parton.
The guest list read like a who’s who of famous faces, including Paul and Stella McCartney, Michael J. Fox, Howard and Beth Stern, Neil Patrick Harris alongside David Burtka, Marcus King, Katie Couric, Andy Cohen, and even James Dolan from Madison Square Garden fame.
Mayer, known for his soulful guitar work, thrilled the audience with performances of his hits like “Who Says” and “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” leaving the crowd exhilarated.
Fans in attendance eagerly chanted “Jolene!” and “Dolly!” hoping to hear Mayer’s rendition of a Dolly Parton classic, following the country star’s passing at the age of 80. However, Mayer had a different way of honoring her legacy.
As the show reached its encore, Mayer impressed with a guitar solo from Parton’s beloved 1974 hit “I Will Always Love You,” offering a nuanced musical homage that might have gone unnoticed by the excited audience.
“I can’t believe he didn’t pay tribute to Dolly,” more than a few were heard saying in between praising the career-spanning show.
According to a preview of an interview with Cohen set to air on SiriusXM Friday, Mayer also praised Parton in the sit-down with his pal, saying, “I think Dolly would be really happy to see that on the day of her passing, the world came together in a way that it hadn’t in a very long time to celebrate someone.”
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“I haven’t felt connected like that for a long time, and here’s a human being who carried herself through every decade of her life perfectly. I don’t know that there are many people in this world left that can galvanize a very fractured world to come together and share love for one person,” he added.
Between songs, Mayer kept the crowd laughing, bouncing from lighter fare into what he called “existential” topics.
“You want to know my rule of paying for food delivery?” he asked, giving Uber Eats a shout-out. “Forty-dollar tip, no matter what. Doesn’t matter what you got… the drive is the same. … I got a cup of coffee? Or I am being a bit of a dickhead, and I’m ordering Nobu? $40. Your drive is the same.”
Mayer appears to be making himself at home out East. We hear he stayed with his bestie, “Housewives” boss Cohen, while in the Hamptons.
Mayer reveals that he’s mixing a single from his upcoming ninth album in Cohen’s bedroom.
“Andy has given me his bedroom and he has taken a different bedroom,” Mayer says. “Now, in order to mix this single and have it out in time, I had to rent studio monitors that are now set up on stands in his bedroom and I woke up this morning and I mixed the single from bed with these monitors in front of me.”
As for the rest of the album, Mayer says he’s looking for the songs and moments that genuinely excite him.
“All that’s left now is to find these moments and songs that really delight me to make them,” he says. “And that means the songs are going to be different because I’ve made so many songs.”