The music of Johnny Mercer all but defines the Great American Songbook of standards, and you may very well know a song by Mercer even if you didn’t know he wrote it. The prolific lyrist, composer and singer from Savannah, Georgia, wrote the words to over 1,500 songs, and he co-founded Capitol Records.
For several years now, the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State has hosted a tribute night to Johnny Mercer with the help of local jazz artist and frequent “City Lights” guest Joe Gransden. The tribute returns on Saturday with new songs recently discovered in Johnny Mercer’s archive. Joe Gransden joined Lois via Zoom along with Louis Heriveaux, the GSU grad student who pieced together and arranged for musicians these never-before lyrics.
The Johnny Mercer tribute show is at the Rialto Center for the Arts this Saturday, March 4. You can find more information about the show here.
