Mayer Hawthorne isn’t quite what one would expect from listening to his music. The multi-instrumentalist’s crooning voice and vintage soul evoke the likes of Motown and Curtis Mayfield, stretching back several decades to channel the essence of soul’s hey day so well that it’s difficult to tell the songs were written only in the last year. Yet it was listening to his father’s car radio as a white boy outside of Detroit that instilled in him his passion for soul, years after his seeming contemporaries first revolutionized a genre. Now at twenty-nine, Hawthorne has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting rising soul and R&B artists, despite having no formal training and never intending to become a singer. And after earning a deal with Stones Throw Records on the strength of only two songs, it’s no wonder why – his craft is exceptional, whether he planned to share it with the world or not. His self-produced debut LP, A Strange Arrangement, comes out September 8th, and pays homage to the music he loves while pushing forward into a new future.

“We sure like our soul music here in Philly, and that’s why we’re digging this new album from Mayer Hawthorne,” said Bruce Warren, Assistant General Manager of Programming for WXPN. “You’ll hear echoes of the Sound of Philly, Motown, Curtis Mayfield, The Spinners, Smokey Robinson, etc. Close your eyes, it’s 1968 or 1972 or 1974 when soul music hit its stride back in the day.”

For more on the XPN Artists To Watch series and this month’s featured artist, visit http://xpn.org/music-artist/artist-to-watch/artist-to-watch-2009-09

The XPN Artists To Watch series reflects WXPN’s commitment to nurturing fresh, new talent and exposing listeners to the best new music. Each month, the XPN Artists To Watch series spotlights a different up-and-coming performer who has produced an album or body of work that demonstrates outstanding vision, creativity and songwriting ability. Month-long on-air promotion is combined with online features to help audiences discover each artist.