He has produced a series of instructional books and DVDs for the mandolin,[4] and is also a regular columnist for Acoustic magazine,[5] along with Martin Taylor, Doyle Dykes, Gordon Giltrap, Maartin Allcock and Julie Ellison.

Mayor cites fiddler and mandolinist Dave Swarbrick as a teenage musical influence,[6] after being taught to sing in tonic sol-fa by his father when very young.

The quartet emerged from a 1997 line up, The Mandolin All-stars with multi-instrumentalists Maartin Allcock and Chris Leslie of Fairport Convention, and longtime musical partner, Hilary James.

The Mandolinquents now includes the classical guitarist Gerald Garcia, multi-instrumentalist Richard Collins, and James on mandobass and vocals.

In addition, Mayor worked as multi-instrumental session musician for other BBC radio programmes Singing Together, Music Workshop and Time and Tune.