John Mayer was 6 years old in 1983, which makes him a precocious 23 years old today. He’ll tell you all about how he got here, and not once sound like a star.

But don’t be fooled, Mayer is rising. A self-taught guitar virtuoso with a smoky smooth voice that invokes Sting, Mayer captivated a Mississippi Nights’ audience last Thursday with a brimming with folk, rock and blues.

Tall and lanky, Mayer shrugged off any traces of awkwardness as soon as he strapped on a guitar, which was (gasp) electric.

His appearance here last June was completely unplugged and without a rhythm section except the body of his guitar-“when I was less capricious,” in Mayer’s own terms.

His popularity is certainly growing, especially with the college crowd. The floor was full of college students, at least a third of them from Saint Louis University.

Mayer and his guitar had been enough to enthrall the audience last June, but the drums, bass and electric guitar added the poppy edge Mayer formally introduced on his major label debut, Room For Squares.

He opened with “Back To You,” a tune that encapsulates his unique guitar style and integration of pop and folk.

According to Mayer, “I wanted to be listenable and play tunes that other people could play but not the way I play them.” His Stevie Ray Vaughn influence was apparent as he indulged in a long bluesy solo that transitioned into “Wind Cries Mary”-beautiful, but it lost some of the audience in chatter. “Thanks for humoring me,” he said.

Mayer was warm with the audience throughout the show. His stories were rambling but frequently eloquent. Though in many ways he is no longer a college student’s peer, Mayer still grew up in the same era that his core audience did, and his stories hit on that breed of nostalgia.

Songs like “83” talk about longing for the innocence of childhood, “If only my life were more like 1983/ things would be more like they were at the start of me.”

His voice was pristine, hitting all the high notes and improvising with smooth transitions like during “Your Body is a Wonderland” when Mayer broke into a falsetto interlude of “My Favorite Things” (yes, from The Sound of Music). His vocals were indeed reminiscent of adult contemporary god Sting (Mayer does covers of “Message in a Bottle” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”) but he also resonates with the candor of James Taylor.

His acoustic version of “Why Georgia” was moving and made perfect sense after a story about believing in “joy in installments.” He explained his love for moments when you realize you’re really alive (think American Beauty).

“Why Georgia” is about wanting to live in a moment, “four more exits to my apartment but/ I am tempted to keep the car in drive/ and leave it all behind.”

At one point during the show, a guy in the crowd yelled “Nice guitar!” Mayer smiled broadly and launched into a tall tale about how he and his dad built the instrument with wood from his childhood bedroom door and a pile of peach pits. He later said, “I’m probably just like someone in the crowd, I just have a nicer guitar.”

Mayer talked about how he’d sit home on a Friday nights in high school playing the blues on his guitar instead of going out. “If I’d thought I was hot, I probably wouldn’t be so good.”

His tendency to banter along with the audience lent itself easily to the intimate setting of Mississippi Nights, and it was refreshing to see a performer who didn’t seem jaded by the touring experience. “Where else can you stand in one place for two hours without getting tired?” he asked.

Mayer touched on Internet file sharing and didn’t seem opposed to it but commented happily that people have told him how “they need to hold the CD in their hand.”

It’s a nice thing to hold, Room For Squares, but it’s even better to see Mayer live, especially when his acoustic brilliance isn’t muffled by overproduction (which happens occasionally on Squares).

So if you’re planning on buying the album, don’t delete those live clips from your hard drive just yet. And definitely watch for a glorious reprisal of Mayer’s live performance in St. Louis.

Judging from the number of SLU kids who attended, you’ll be able to catch a ride.