There’s nothing polite about the way Troy Mercy attacks a guitar. The elusive Americana and blues-schooled songwriter trades in raw, vintage-toned rock and roll that feels ripped from a sweat-soaked juke joint and rewired for the present tense. The riffs crackle and bite, but it’s Mercy’s gravelly conviction as a singer and the no-frills punch of his songwriting that elevate him well above the six-string pack.
Troy Mercy’s upcoming album, Let The Night Begin, will be available on vinyl, CD and DSPs on May 29th via Gitcha Records.
Though this is his debut solo outing, Mercy has long paid dues on the road, cutting his teeth alongside heavyweights like Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the M.G.’s and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. He’s shared stages with blues architects including Hubert Sumlin, Billy Boy Arnold, and Pinetop Perkins, and laid down guitar on a pair of Grammy-nominated releases with Kim Wilson. It’s a résumé steeped in tradition, but Mercy’s own material refuses to live in the past.
Drawing from a wide, road-tested palette of influences, Mercy often strips things down to a power duo setup, channeling the stripped-bare stomp of bands like The Black Keys, The White Stripes, and Flat Duo Jets. The result is lean, loud, and wired tight — a format that leaves nowhere to hide and lets the songs breathe fire.
Produced by Tim Carman (Parlor Greens, Canyon Lights, formerly GA-20), Let The Night Begin serves as Mercy’s formal introduction. It’s a debut built on grit and groove, stocked with hooks that linger long after the amps cool. This is vintage-toned rock and roll, sure — but it’s being forged right now, in real time, by an artist who knows exactly where the blues have been and isn’t afraid to push them forward.
Today, Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the standout track “A Place of Our Own,” a proper slice of effortlessly cool throwback rock that finds Mercy adding elements of blues, soul, and glam like a chef adding ingredients to make his own signature dish. Mercy’s vocals seem to levitate over his groovy guitar work, creating a sound that feels simultaneously psychedelic and ready for the late-night club. You can hear plenty of influences from acts like Booker T. Jones and Sly and the Family Stone, as well as revivalist contemporaries like the Black Keys, GA-20, and Patrick Sweany.
“It’s those tales of ordinary madness that sneak up on us,” says Troy. “You know, that daily pressure builds slowly. As your doctor, I’m prescribing listening to ‘A Place Of Our Own’ as needed and singing along to the Na-Na bits quite loudly indeed. See Cheryl in Billing on your way out.”
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