Mayer's 'Born and Raised' summer tour brings this concept to life, merging songs from both records with his back catalog under the real-life night sky that it's easy to imagine yourself under while listening to the record. So, in many ways, Paradise Valley feels like a continuation of Born and Raised - the thought that was never completed, a sonic and visual evolution in progress (the oversized cowboy hat gave way to an oversized poncho).

After all of the said-more-than-he-maybe-should-have interview fracas of 2010, Mayer had surgery for the issues with his vocal cords, moved to Montana, recorded a lovely, folky album - last year's Born and Raised - and then promptly had to deal with a resurgence of his health issues before he could go on tour.

The vibe is much more hopeful than 2009's Battle Studies: relaxed, yet buoyant with an underlying peace - a sound that carries through the rest of Paradise Valley and is no doubt inspired by Mayer's relocation to Montana and the personal centering he seems to have experienced since recovering from his second battle with vocal granuloma.

From those initial jangly guitar notes on 'Wildfire,' the first track on John Mayer's sixth album, you can immediately sense things are better.

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