Marty “Big Dog” Mercer is a Joliet-based blues singer, songwriter and left-handed slide guitarist, and one of the most recognizable figures on the Chicagoland blues scene. Standing 6-foot-10 with a deep, gravelly baritone, he is hard to miss and harder to forget.
Finding the Blues
Born in Waukegan, Illinois, and raised in Antioch, he started out on trombone in middle school before teaching himself guitar on a Sears acoustic that his father bought him, converted for a left-handed player. He was hooked on the blues after hearing a Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker tape he picked up at a truck stop, and soon was buying every Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Albert King cassette he could find. He learned slide guitar by ear, drawing on players like Elmore James, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher.
From Machinist to Bluesman
For years Mercer worked as a machinist, running an engine lathe by day and sitting in at suburban blues jams by night. That is where the regulars started calling him “Big Dog,” and the name stuck so well that many fans never knew his name was Marty. When the economic downturn cost him his machining job, he made the music his full-time work.
Records and Honors
His band was voted Best Blues Band in the “Best of the Burbs” readers’ poll in 2010 and 2011, and in 2011 he signed with Electro Glide Records for his self-titled album, Big Dog Mercer. It Ain’t Easy followed in 2016, and in 2025 he released Live at The Roxy, an all-original set recorded in front of a hometown crowd at The Roxy in Lockport. He was inducted into the Joliet Blues Hall of Fame in 2013 and into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame as a “Great Blues Artist” in 2016, in a ceremony at Buddy Guy’s Legends.
On Stage
Big Dog has headlined Buddy Guy’s Legends, where Buddy Guy himself has sat in with the band, and has played Kingston Mines, Rosa’s Lounge and Shaw’s Crab House. He counted the late Lonnie Brooks as a friend and mentor, has made three trips to perform in Ireland, including the Guinness Blues on the Bay festival in Warrenpoint, and reached the semifinals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2026.
Ed Peterson’s photographs of Big Dog also illustrate Chicago Blues Guide’s 2025 interview with him.
From the Photographer
Few musicians in the area worked harder than Big Dog. He once told me that success in this business isn’t always about talent. There were players out there with more talent, he said, but less drive and business sense. Watching him over the years, I saw exactly what he meant. — Ed Peterson
Photographs © Ed Peterson, Peterson Design. To ask about a print or licensing, get in touch.