Mac Ayres is the soulful, musical magician that‰’s here to save the day. Though he is relatively new to the scene, he is clearly having no trouble making ground.

So, who is this man? He‰’s a 21-year-old, self-taught producer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist. A quick google search (hint: now‰’s a good time to look too) led me to “Slow Down‰Û. I had to stop everything I was doing. I had to really listen to what was playing into my ears. Then, I had to refrain from crying/screaming. Finally, I had to write this piece. He‰’s that good, guys.

Hopefully, you all are listening by now. I obviously cannot sit here and market music as if it‰’s for everyone—that would be ludicrous. Though I can, with great integrity, say that anyone that can‰’t kick to Mac Ayres needs the boot. We don‰’t need that kind of negativity in our lives.

I think of great artists like Jon B, D‰’Angelo, and Stevie Wonder and imagine that there‰’s some kind of top secret government operation that‰’s merging the cells of people to make super humans. A stretch, I know, and I swear I‰’m not on anything right now, but we‰’re staring right in the face of music‰’s future.

In today‰’s troubled and turbulent times, music, for many, is pathway to another world. Music is like a majestic horse-drawn pumpkin that rolls up outside your crib to take you away from a life of destitution, if only for a while. Artists fashion themselves as the magical godparents that somehow manage to read our thoughts. They take those thoughts that seem to haunt all of us and make them into art. This art is out there for all of us to listen to; we just have to listen.

Be sure to check out Mac Ayres, Braxton Cook, and Psalm on February 22nd at Union Stage. Tickets are available here.