Red Light Café, Atlanta, GA
Admission is $5 Door
Mercer & Johnson are Brock Johnson and s.mercer. The duo put their first recordings online for free in June of 2010. They immediately took off to find places that would let them play, as often as possible. Logging thousands of downloads and well over 100,000 miles, the pair has continued to record and tour. The band has shared stages with, or opened for established acts and up and comers like... Billy Joe Shaver, Hayes Carll, Sara Watkins, the Turnpike Troubadors, Robbie Fulks, Mike McClure, Mountain Sprout, J.P. Harris and the Tough Choices and the Ben Miller Band. They quickly found out nobody in the business cares who you’ve opened for.
The band uses a mix of traditional string-band instrumentation on their recordings, to craft songs that vary in origin from traditional style ballads and up tempo numbers, to songs influenced by singer-songwriters and modern indie rock. Live, the two feature mostly mandolin and bass in a stomping shouting manner that people find enjoyable, yet puzzling. The puzzle is the mandolin, which they often mistake for a wide variety of other instruments.
The two have released several recordings, an out of print cd e.p. called Oregano, the digital-only release Road Noise and an initial release available only on their website, that was untitled. In the summer of 2012, they made the short hop to Independence, MO and in less than 48 hours recorded 10 songs with Johnny Kenepaske of Adam Lee and the Dead Horse Sound Company. The self-titled recording was released in January of 2013. In early November of 2013 Mercer and Johnson went to Lafayette LA and did 4 songs in a private top secret location, to be released in early 2014. They continue to tour as often as possible.
Mercer & Johnson Official Site
Mercer & Johnson on Facebook
Mercer & Johnson on iTunes