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Few artists are both accomplished singer/songwriters and instrumental virtuosos, but John Mayer appears comfortable in both roles. Mayer's 2001 breakaway album, Room for Squares, showcased his thoughtful lyrics over a rocked-up version of his acoustic solo act. Now, the artist is showing his deep love of the blues and skill with an electric guitar - forming the John Mayer Trio with bassist David LaBruyere and drummer Stephen Chopek, with a bit of collaborative help from blues giants B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. At the Madison Square Garden (New York City) stop on his current tour, Mayer represented his latest effort, the double Grammy-winning album Continuum, with an 8-piece band (drummer JJ Johnson, bassist David LaBruyere, keyboardist Tim Bradshaw, guitarists Robbie McIntosh and David Ryan Harris, saxophonist Bob Reynolds, and Brad Mason, trumpet/flugel horn) that ably shifts between soul-influenced pop, blues rock and the acoustic-based songs of Mayer's earlier days.
Chad Franscoviak, the tour's front-of-house engineer, has been with Mayer since the beginning. "I started out as a studio engineer in Atlanta," he says. "I met John through David LaBruyere at a club called Eddie's Attic. John had just moved to Atlanta and started playing around town. The three of us eventually ended up in the studio together. One night, John was in the booth, and in between takes, he mentioned that at some point, once his career took off, he would need someone to come out and mix his live shows and wondered if I would be interested. I told him I'd love to, although I had no idea how I'd pull it off since I'd never mixed a live show before. It wasn't long after that conversation that he recorded Room for Squares, and before I knew it, I was on the road with him. Luckily, he had a lot of faith in me, which allowed for my tremendous learning curve.
"The trickiest part about a mix is always the layering," Franscoviak continues, sitting...