In case there was any doubt, Jason Mraz is a gentleman. “If I’m at someone’s house, I’ll eat whatever they’re serving,” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
The 48-year-old songwriter’s grandma—who he’s described as “a kind and inclusive woman, a jokester, and an amazing cook”—always asked him to finish his okra as a youth, slimy as it was. Once, his brother lost control of their childhood go-kart and plowed through his grandparents’ okra.
“They thought it was an organized crime,” Mraz added. “They thought that we had manufactured this accident in order to take out the okra because it was showing up on the dinner plate way too much.”
Mraz—who brings a solo, stripped-back “Still Yours” tour complete with deep cuts and stories, to Clearwater this week—has since figured out how to properly roast the vegetable. And while he won’t turn down any fried okra served to him on this Florida run, Mraz admits “it is something I probably wouldn’t go, you know, searching for.”
Fans searching for a career-spanning set, however, are in luck.
Expect Mraz to play a few from a new album, Grandma’s Gospel Favorites, featuring songs beloved by Mary Helen Mraz-Fowler, aka Nanny Razz. He recorded it for her, by request, as a Christmas present, but she always wanted him to share it with others. “I hope you enjoy this album as much as she did. I personally think it goes down easier than okra,” he told fans in an announcement.
And if gospel’s not your flavor, Mraz has a remedy.
Setlists for the tour include a couple dozen songs and have traversed the breadth of a discography that’s earned two Grammy awards, from his independently-released 2001 LP Live at Java Joe’s (“Unfold”) to a 2023 release, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride (“I Feel Like Dancing”). His camp takes requests online, and Mraz told CL he also likes to get out around the venue ahead of shows hoping to meet fans and find out what songs they want to hear.
“I want to be of service as a songwriter and not just say, ‘Look at me,’ but it’s more like here we are. How can we make the most of this night?”
Moments for improvisation, new songs, and new ideas are in the mix, too.
“I like to leave room for, for the moment, and that’s always been exciting to me as a performer,” he added. “Let the conversation that’s unfolding with the audience dictate how the show flows.”
Deep cuts that he never thought would have resonated often also make it into a show’s deviating moments. “Quiet,” “Living In the Moment,” “Unlonely,” and “Details In the Fabric,” are among those cuts.
“These things I never thought would be hits, but in the live arena, they’re some of my most requested tunes,” he said. “And then I’m always writing new songs, and I try to weave in something that might be humorous. Like, if you haven’t heard it, can I hold your attention and make you laugh and make you feel something? So that way, yes, it’s new, but it’s relevant, and that’s always fun for me.”
Current events inevitably play into the makeup of setlists, Mraz noted. Long rooted in activism around the climate, arts education, and more, Mraz’s actions have consistently addressed social issues. On Juneteenth six years ago, he shared plans to donate the $250,000 advance, plus earning from sales and streams of a new LP, Look For The Good, to six nonprofits serving Black Lives. The public announcement was uncharacteristic for the San Diego-based songwriter, but he hoped that his announcement would inspire to share the wealth, adding that, “A time has come to act beyond promises, thoughts, and prayers.”
In fact, $1.23 from every ticket sold on this tour will go to his eponymous foundation, which provides other organizations supporting the arts more than $100,000 in grants annually.
But Mraz’s shows have never been a place to soapbox or wax poetic about divisive topics. Even in a state where the governor has literally wiped Pride off the streets, Mraz, who came out as bisexual at 41 years old, thinks reading headlines from the stage might not be the best approach.
“There are ways that address it that can speak to an entire community that’s present about the importance of equality, of equity, of unity, of being neighbors, you know, of being a community that is an ecosystem that is meant to work and thrive together,” he said. “How our differences make us special, right?”
Mraz acknowledged that in Florida, the queer community might be looking for comfort, but countered that another slice of the audience may need to be more attentive instead.
“Maybe it’s the conservative or the straight community that actually needs the lesson, to relax and include and welcome and celebrate,” he said, noting that cultivating comfort, peace, and unity until the pendulum eventually swings back might be a better solution.
“To me, it always goes back to love. Love your neighbor. Love your enemy,” he said. “And as hard as that may seem for some, it’s real.”
CL spoke to him days after a jury found that Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation operate as an illegal monopoly to dominate the live events and ticketing industry. Mraz said he has some leverage in keeping prices low (tickets start at $83 for the gig this weekend), but dynamic pricing and third party markets still leave him somewhat confused.
Jason Mraz w/Gregory Page
Time Sat., May 16, 6:30 p.m.
Location Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen Booth Rd., Clearwater
This article appears in May 07 – 13, 2026.