CONCERT PREVIEW
Jason Mraz
With Raining Jane. 8 p.m. Tuesday. $22-$72. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 1-855-285-8499, www.foxtheatre.org.
Regardless of your feelings about Jason Mraz, you can never doubt his sincerity.
Since his first hit more than a decade ago, the meaningful-but-hiding-behind-a-sunny-melody “The Remedy,” Mraz has made hearts swoon with “Lucky,” his Grammy-winning duet with Colbie Caillat, spawned a gazillion homemade YouTube videos with the breezy “I’m Yours” and promoted optimism with “I Won’t Give Up.”
His fifth studio album, “Yes!,” released in July, substitutes much of the clever wordplay associated with Mraz with more mature acoustic leanings and a collaboration with Raining Jane, the all-female band joining him on tour.
That run, which began last month in his adopted hometown of San Diego (Mraz is Virginia-born and is greatly philanthropic toward his alma mater, School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community), stops at the Fox Theatre on Tuesday and continues through November.
Calling a couple of hours before show time in Dallas last week, the ever-genial Mraz, 37, took a few minutes to talk about what to expect at his Fox show, the evolution of his relationship with Raining Jane and why he isn’t worried about hits.
Q: You’re such an in-touch-with-yourself guy. Do have any pre-show rituals, like meditating?
A: It's funny you say that because we're (getting ready to meet) for group meditation. But usually I'm somewhat alone between now and show time. I'll eat dinner, finish the set list, maybe do a little yoga to wake up the body. It's a pretty mellow show, but I don't want there to be any tightness in my body anywhere. To me, singing is a physical activity; bending at the hips is a great warm-up.
Q: It looks as if the tour has a very cool format and is divided into acts.
A: At the moment, it is, but that's subject to change. The show evolves. I don't know why, but every day I want to improve on it. At the moment, we have several different setups where the risers move and the musicians are in different configurations. By the time we get to Atlanta, we might have eliminated some of those moves to add more time for music. We get pretty stripped down at some points. Raining Jane plays three songs before I join them, so the first half of the show runs 90 minutes. Then we take a short break and come back for another 45 minutes.
Q: Last time you were here, you played Lakewood. Playing theaters seems more intimate and more your style.
A: Oh yeah, very much. I feel at home in these venues. I can take risks and I'm immediately forgiven if that risk is a failure because it's such a cozy atmosphere. It opens up the opportunity to have a conversation, interact with the crowd more.
Q: What was it like working with the girls in Raining Jane compared to your past bands?
A: I met them eight years ago this month, and the first time we got together to collaborate was 2007. I've had Mona (Tavakoli) with me a couple of years and have gotten together with the rest of Raining Jane the past few years to write music. This album was born out of those get-togethers. Most of the album was written before we knew we were writing an album, so it's really organic. They've been a band for 15 years. They self-manage, they control all their media, they're artists. The beauty of their vocals and what they're doing can't be replicated by a bunch of men. I've actually been trying to get into their band since 2006.
Q: How important are hits to you at this point?
A: If it happens, it happens. I feel like this is a really great record from start to finish. The hits are something that when you put the set list together, you want to connect to people who might not be familiar with the rest of your catalog. The market can't be predicted and if I tried (to write a hit), I would make myself crazy. If I write for that purpose, it usually fails. You follow the formula and it doesn't hold up. The songs have to come from a real, sincere emotion, whether it's happiness or unhappiness, or love, it doesn't matter. What the song is about has to evoke some kind of genuine emotion.
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