Lindsey Buckingham

Heartbreak can be a songwriter's best friend, and judging by the detailed and exquisite sadness radiating off of ``Battle Studies,'' John Mayer has clearly been getting acquainted. But more importantly for listeners, the pop heartthrob is finding ways to express his unpleasant romantic discoveries - about his exes, himself, and the world - in songs that are moving, funny, and painfully true without invoking cutesy bubblegum lyrics, or sounding, too often anyway, like a precious wussy. As he did on his 2006 leap forward, ``Continuum,'' Mayer, with help from drummer and co-producer Steve Jordan, continues to strip away the twinkly radio lacquer of his earlier work without sacrificing his pop sensibilities. Lead single ``Who Says,'' a compact slip of rolling and tumbling acoustic charm cut from the Paul Simon cloth, is a catchy, mildly defiant ditty about a moderatedly debauched road life. But between the lines lies an honest question about what that life means to Mayer as he gets older.

Today in History - Oct. 4. Today is Sunday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2009. There are 88 days left in the year.