Recent Grammy winner and Rolling Stone “New Guitar God” John Mayer will appear at NIU Feb. 20 at when he plays at the Convocation Center with special guest Mat Kearney at 7:30 p.m. as part of his tour for his latest album, “Continuum.”

This is hardly the first time Mayer has performed in the Chicago area, especially considering his memorable cameo on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” during that show’s week-long Chicago stint last May.

“I always end up in Chicago,” Mayer said. “Chicago is definitely a spot on the map I hit often.”

Chicago’s blues-heavy music scene makes it a particularly savory stop for Mayer, who released the live blues-rock album “Try!” as part of the John Mayer Trio last November. The album was a departure from his earlier adult pop records, a direction he continued in part with his latest, “Continuum,” which won the Grammy for Best Vocal Album on Sunday.

Some may call Mayer’s genre-hopping wishy-washy, but the Connecticut native is completely confident in his musical direction. In 2005 he collaborated with guitar heros such as B.B. King and Eric Clapton. His work with these legendary musicians as well as his commitment to genre-breaking song writing led to Mayer being named a “New Guitar God” in the Feb. 7 issue of “Rolling Stone.”

“It feels good,” Mayer said on receiving the prestigious award, which was also given to John Frusciante and Derek Trucks. “As long as I don’t have the need to argue back.”

Mayer now has four things any mainstream singer songwriters wish they could achieve in their careers: mainstream appeal (from his first two albums as well as his latest album), a universally-recognized hit song (“Your Body is a Wonderland”), a picture on the cover of “Rolling Stone,” and now, the validation of the music industry in the form of the Grammys.

Mainstream America can now view Mayer as either a serious guitar-toting musician or a sensitive singer-songwriter. When asked which stereotype he prefers, Mayer’s intentions were pretty clear.

“I could use some more rock star, not singer-songwriter, stereotypes,” he said.