Marty "Big Dog" Mercer Band
Live at the roxy
May 22, 2025 by Blues Blast Magazine
Issue 19 -21 May 22, 2025
Featured Blues Review
Self-Release – 2025
www.BigDogMercer.com
13 tracks; 71 minutes
Senior writer John Mitchell
Marty Mercereau is a Chicago-based singer and guitarist who gets his stage name from his physical stature, 6’ 10” and 300 pounds. For this release the band hired the Roxy Theatre in Lockport, Illinois in April 2024 and set about recording thirteen originals penned by Marty. Everything you hear is live, no overdubs, no second takes, what you hear is what the band played that night, enjoyed by the audience and now by us listeners. And there is plenty to enjoy too as the band works hard to entertain the audience. Alongside Marty’s guitar/vocals we have sax man Aiden Dehn, bassist Michael Bailey and drummer Ra’Mar Leach.
After a brief introduction the band starts off with an instrumental entitled “Cookin’ With Grease” which immediately shows how together they are as Marty and Aiden offer fine solos (Aiden seeming to reference Duke Ellington in his), all the time well supported by the rhythm section. Marty steps up to the mike for the first time to warn that “Buddy, She’s All Mine”, his vocals clear and strong with just a hint of grit. He follows that with a semi-autobiographical song based round some wise words from his father that everyone has to “Dig Your Own Ditch”, his slide work here right on the money. Next up is an instrumental “Prelude” (originally recorded in 2010 and now adapted to include a nicely harmonized sax/guitar sequence) that develops into “Helpless”, a slower song that handles the difficult topic of addiction very effectively, Marty adding an impressive spiraling solo.
Marty’s emotional solo playing starts the extended slow blues “I Feel Like I Could Die”, a sad tale of a woman’s infidelity and its effects on her partner which runs to almost ten minutes, offering Marty lots of space to show his chops. That song is immediately followed by “Enough Changes”, something of a reversal of its predecessor as Marty lays down the law: “Everything I did you said I didn’t do it right. But I won’t change, I won’t change any more for you. You won’t change for me girl, so why the hell should I change for you”. Over the raucous rhythm, Aiden plays a scorching sax break. “Real Foul Mood” is a slow blues with torrid guitar, reflecting the mood when the day starts well, but soon goes rapidly downhill as the bank refuses a loan and money is tight.
Marty plays tribute to “the prettiest place I’ve ever seen” in the jazzy shuffle “Going Back To Warrenpoint”, perhaps referencing a family link to Northern Ireland which is also reflected in the Celtic feel of instrumental “Top Of The Mournes”. However, Marty is a lifetime Chicago resident, even though he does not appreciate the harsh winters, as he explains in “Windy City Blues”, a splendid up-tempo shuffle. Two tunes with plenty of slide conclude the album: the rocking instrumental, “My Little Georgiadore”, is dedicated to Marty’s dog; the comic “Cook It For Me” is about a fat guy who is seeking a woman who will cook lots of food for him!
With an all-original program and lots of fine playing, this is a live album that all fans of modern Chicago blues should enjoy. It is certainly one of the best live albums that this reviewer has heard this year.
Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer John Mitchell is a blues enthusiast based in the UK
Marty ‘Big Dog’ Mercer
Live At The Roxy
Self Release
Swinging Chicago R&B That Colours Outside The Lines
With so much music available these days and so few outlets (radio, magazines and online sites like ours) it’s probably a sign of the times, but we are now receiving a lot of albums directly from established bands and singers themselves; forgoing the label/PR middle men.
This is one such example, where Marty himself got in touch with an e-mail that showed he’d actually checked out RMHQ and thought we’d be a good fit for his ‘type of Rhythm & Blues’ … and he wasn’t wrong!
Releasing his/their debut album in 2003, Marty and the band have not stood still; releasing an album every year or so and consistently playing 200+ gigs a year in clubs and festivals across the Mid West and a couple of jaunts to the UK and Europe too.
LIVE AT THE ROXY feels like something of a Greatest Hits affair, without actually having any Greatest Hits to speak of!
Now I’ve immersed myself in it, the Marty ‘Big Dog Mercer’ Band are the type of group that you’d see maybe third on the bill at a festival, or in some seedy downtown club on a midweek night … and you’d come away wondering why they aren’t headlining on a Saturday night! ir
The album starts in the time honoured R&B fashion with a fabulous instrumental; Cookin’ With Grease which introduces the band and the technical attributes to the audience with plenty of sash and swing.
Mercer steps forward to take the mic on the rambunctious Buddy She’s All Mine and, standing at a towering 6’10” and weighing 300 pounds Marty has a vocal presence worthy of his body mass.
The set is a well paced mix of songs and instrumentals … all of them eminently danceable; especially Going Back To Warrenpoint, the smoocherama Helpless as well as the punchy instrumentals, the swinging My Little Georgiadore, Prelude and Top of The Mournes where Mercer manages to combine a Celtic melody with a Bluesy backdrop … and it works a treat.
When I say ‘danceable’ I mean the type were you hold your partner so tightly it’s difficult for either of you to breathe.
When it comes, Windy City Blues is a real blast of Chicago Blues, the likes of which you feared you’d never hear again … yet here it is, where you’d least expect it.
While classy and timeless, Mercer tackles a few issues that aren’t what you’d normally expect on an album of this ilk; I’m particularly thinking about the mean and moody Dig Your Own Ditch about and dedicated to his Dad (and manual workers everywhere I presume) and Helpless too, which starts slowly, building the tension until it nearly snaps on this torrid tale of addiction, that sounds like it’s being told from personal experience.
After so long on the road, it’s no real surprise that the running order here is exceptionally balanced; regularly playing with your senses and sensibilities …. following the sensually heartbreaking ‘cheating’ song I Feel Like I Could Die with a retort of kinds; Enough Changes and its Jazzy vibe.
Phew, what to choose as a Favourite Song?
At first it was going to be the amorous love song that closes the deal, Cook It For Me which errs on the side of Jumpin’ Jive; but much slower and even funkier around the edges.
The other; and probably my real Favourite is Real Foul Mood which is full of liquid guitar licks and a story that could be about me or you when you wake up in a Real Foul Mood which is becoming more regular than I’d hoped these days.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this album; mostly because Marty ‘Big Dog’ Mercer and band colour outside the traditional R&B lines with their songs and stories; but never lose sight of ultimately being their to entertain … and entertain they most certainly do.
Released March 2025
https://bigdogmercer.com/home
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Reviews for "It Ain't Easy" 2016
Blues Blast Magazine 12/2016
Reviewed by Rhys Williams
The front cover of “It Ain’t Easy” features an atmospheric black and white photo of Chicago's Sears Tower at night, together with the “Big Dog Mercer” logo and the legend “Chicago Blues And Rock” and this an album for which the phrase “it does what it says on the tin” could have been coined. It Ain’t Easy comprises 10 great blues or blues-rock songs, played with serious attitude and skill that instantly transports the listener to a darkened Windy City bar. Although this is a studio album, it has enough rough edges to suggest that it could have been recorded live (albeit with some double tracking for the guitars).
Even the track listing on the album suggests a live set, opening with three classic blues tracks to entice the audience in before moving seamlessly to Mercer’s own songs. The choices also indicate a total confidence in the band’s abilities. Opening with Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues” could be seen as slightly hackneyed but Mercer’s threatening, slashing slide guitar and the irresistible groove of bassist Matt Cartwright and drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith provides an indelible flow and pulse. Likewise, the second track, Wolf’s classic “300 Lbs Of Joy”, is wholly owned by the 6' 10”, 300+lb Mercer. The third track is Chess session ace Gene Barge’s less well known but wonderfully funky “Me & My Woman”.
Mercer is backed by two different rhythm sections on “It Ain’t Easy” with Cartwright and Smith on half the songs and Mike Boyle on bass and D. Bernal on drums on the other five (with Jeff “Wally” Walroth adding piano to “Blue # 44”). Both trios rock like men possessed.
Mercer plays slide guitar with a ferocious attitude. On “Revelation”, the opening lick hints of Son House before erupting into a rock chorus that wouldn’t be out of place on an early Deep Purple album. The wonderfully titled “The Truth About Your Friends… Unfortunately” sounds like an updated “Rollin’ And Tumblin’”. Indeed, the pace and intensity of the album are unrelenting, with only the country-rock-ish “One For Gabby” stepping off the metaphorical pedal. Even “Canadian Sunset” (played here as an instrumental) has a tension and vigour one would not usually find in a jazz standard.
Mercer successfully treads that delicate line between blues and blues-rock. “Blues # 44” sounds like a modern-day Howlin’ Wolf track with its combination of electric instrumentation and a song structure that hints of both Chicago and Mississippi. The title track sits comfortably in the rock genre but features a beautiful slide solo. “I’m Not A Good Man” has echoes of Dickie Betts-era Allman Brothers both in the chord structure and the major pentatonic guitar melody.
If you like your Chicago blues played hard and in your face (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), you will enjoy It Ain’t Easy. Mercer and Kenny Smith as co-producers deserve special credit for capturing such a sparkling sound on the recording.
Very impressive.
Chicago Blues Guide 9/13/16
Review by Greg Easterling
You have to love a guy who airmails a good-natured kiss-off to a former employer in the credits to his new album. Singer-guitarist Marty “Big Dog” Mercer is such an individual. He’s the kind of working-class blues man likely to be found playing weekends at hardcore blues lovers joints like the Harlem Avenue Lounge in Berwyn.
Mercer’s 2016 indie release, It Ain’t Easy, is a highly listenable album’s worth of “Chicago Blues and Rock” as plainly printed in blue on the front cover of the CD beneath a black and white photo of the Windy City skyline. There’s no truth in advertising issue here. Big Dog plays slide guitar with a vengeance and his bluesy vocals are very effective as well.
It Ain’t Easy kicks off with a three-song sequence of Chicago related blues numbers, the first two of which are bonafide classics. This trio of tunes serves as a strong positioning statement just in case there’s any question about Mercer’s influences or intent. Big Dog leads with Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues”, the oft-covered standard that traces its blues blood all the way back to the Mississippi crossroads. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and local blues legend Paul Butterfield recorded it for his second album, East-West with Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. Mercer’s compelling arrangement with plenty of good slide guitar action is a great way to begin the proceedings here.
Big Dog is a large man physically (6’10”, 300 lbs.) so his choice of Willie Dixon’s “300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy” is more than appropriate, plus Mercer definitely has the voice and musical muscle to pull it off. It’s reminiscent of the much missed Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows (RIP Larry Nolan and Pete Special) who also recorded this blues classic. As the song goes, “This is it, look what you get!”.
“Me and My Woman” is the third blues cover, written by onetime Chess session ace, Gene “Daddy G” Barge, who also played with Big Twist. Big Dog sings and solos well on this track, confiding, “we don’t get along but one day at a time.” The only complaint here is a small one; the song fades out too early.
Next, Mercer slows it down with nice original “One for Gabby.” The guitar licks are sweet and the mood melancholy at times as Big Dog’s slide comes close to the sound of steel you might hear on a country record. He sings, “Blow wind blow, that’s the only thing gonna set me free.” It’s the sort of feeling that comes from the heart.
Big Dog heads another direction with “Canadian Sunset,” a vintage easy listening
favorite. It’s a classic instrumental that was once rearranged by Muscle Shoals session guitarist Pete Carr. Mercer brings a hip jazzy blues sensibility to this onetime middle-of-the-road standard that you might have heard on The Lawrence Welk Show decades ago. It’s also a reminder to keep an open mind about so-called genres and styles, as Mercer obviously does.
The tempo picks up with the next track, “The Truth About Your Friends…Unfortunately.” You can depend on Big Dog for an unbridled assessment of the situation with a set of particularly personal lyrics about relationships.
Another original, “Revelation” follows with a literal thunderclap sound effect and comes off as something of a blues march musically while lyrically making numerous allusions to its near-namesake, the book of apocalypse and prophecy at the end of The Bible with references to “seven seals” and “seven deadly sins.” This blend of classic literature with the blues makes Big Dog much more than a one trick pony, while he tears it up on slide guitar again with plenty of tasty licks.
Mercer saves the title cut, “It Ain’t Easy,” until the album’s eighth track. The song works on any number of levels and it’s a good name for Big Dog’s album because it couldn’t have been easy for him to pursue his musical dreams while working a day job and trying to survive financially. It’s hard to make it these days especially when more modern styles and ways of acquiring music often overshadow the roots of the blues and more traditional ways of performance.
“Blues # 44,” in which Mercer spins off the Howlin’ Wolf classic “Forty Four,” is one of the most cleverly written songs on the album although the story is deadly serious. Big Dog uses the number 44 to represent the protagonist’s age at a crucial moment in his life. It’s also the calibre of the pistol he used and the time remaining on his prison sentence. The album closes with a blues confession of sorts, “I’m Not a Good Man.” It’s not a boast but instead a blunt admission of humanity. “I’m not a strong man but I never said I was.” Mercer’s Allman Brothers-style guitar sound here reminds one of Dickey Betts, which also distinguishes the album’s final track.
Marty “Big Dog” Mercer released his first recording, Swamp Boogie, back in 2003 and was recognized as “King of the Blues” in a competition sponsored by the Joliet Guitar Center several years later! Big Dog has also received honours from organizations such as the Muddy Waters Chicago Blues Slide Guitar Championship, Chicago SuburbaNites Magazine, the Chicago Blues Challenge at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Joliet and Chicago Blues Hall of Fame, and the Kankakee Valley Music Awards.
Along the way, Mercer has managed to release three more albums prior to his fourth, It Ain’t Easy. Mercer co-produced with Grammy Award-winning drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith who also drummed on the album. Kudos also go to Mike Boyle and Matt Cartwright on bass, D. Bernal (also on drums along with Smith), and Jeff Walroth on piano. The album was recorded at The Spot Studio.
It’s back to the album credits for a final word. Big Dog sends these dedications out to his brothers: “To Matt, you never told me I can’t” and “To Mike, for telling me you’ll never be as good as Jimmy Page, so why bother?” In this life, you need to be loved but also challenged to make it. It sounds like Big Dog Mercer got the right mix from his family because as we know, It Ain’t Easy!
Greg Easterling is the host of the 12 midnight – 5 a.m. shift on WDRV (97.1 FM)
Also American Backroads on WDCB (90.9 FM), Thursdays 9-10 p.m.