John Mayer wrote “A Simple Song” on his birthday in 2014. He’d performed it live on a handful of occasions but had never recorded it. The song rejects the ostentatious “private flights to paradise” and instead celebrates instead the joys of traveling unpretentiously.

Sung on a golden Northern California beach at the end of a journey through some of the country’s most beautiful wild places, the song takes on a special meaning. The track was not written with this particular trip in mind, but it perfectly captures its themes.

Mayer chose the song for this video himself—a testament to the project’s personal resonance for the musician.