'Follow for Now' co-founder returns home

He moved to Los Angeles six years ago. "We definitely think about moving back — all the time. But after Follow for Now, and all of my other roots in Atlanta, it was really hard for me to make a career shift there. People just kind of feel like, 'Oh yeah, that's David Ryan Harris. We see him all of the time here. We know what he does.' It was hard to get people excited, initially. Just because.

"And then with my songwriting and production [includes acts Cassandra Wilson, Dionne Farris and Widespread Panic], you know, unless you were doing urban stuff, Atlanta was really not the place to be. It was L.A. or New York. And I really couldn't fathom New York. I like to cook out at my house too much. And I like homeownership too much. A home with a yard. And I can't see that in Manhattan."

Harris added later that he hasn't totally left one Atlanta tie behind. "Follow for Now is considering doing a show, a reunion-type thing, in December. Most of us got together the last time I was home — see, look at me — and it was the first time I was with everybody in 12 years. That's when we started talking about it."

• The latest with him: "I've just been out on the road with [fellow one-time Atlantan John Mayer]. I plan to spend the early part of fall writing and recording a new record for spring. I'm still doing the writing/producing thing during the time I've had off touring with John. Nothing really spectacular. It would be really easy to hit me with a dart right now."

• The most recent thing he's learned about John Mayer: "You know, it's just been really cool to see him mature, along with this band, this unit," he says of his friend of almost a decade. (Mayer plays Aug. 29 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park.) "There's just a quiet confidence."

And what about the tabloid chatter surrounding his buddy of late? "Well, another friend of mine who won, like, the first 'Australian Idol,' it's kind of like the same thing. I don't know him as that. I only know him as my friend Guy [Sebastian]. So when I hang out with him in Sydney, I almost get a little freaked out when we can't walk from one block to the next block without the whole tabloid superstar thing. I forget. Same thing with John. It's surprising."

?THE 411: David Ryan Harris with Sam Thacker. $20; $15 in advance. Doors open at 7 p.m. Aug. 28. The Loft, 1374 W. Peachtree St., Atlanta. Tickets at box office and Ticket Alternative (1-877-725-8849, www.ticketalternative.com).