[UPDATED] Trey Anastasio Announces Debut Solo Acoustic Album ‘Mercy’

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio will release his debut solo acoustic album, Mercy, this Friday, March 11. The nine songs on the album were written over the past two years and informed by Anastasio’s time spent in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mercy is the title of an original song Anastasio debuted at night six of “The Beacon Jams” in November 2020. The new album follows the guitarist’s 2020 solo LP, Lonely Trip, which was similarly influenced by the pandemic but featured Anastasio on guitar, bass and keyboards, with drums provided by Phish’s Jon Fishman.

“[Mercy] is like a bookend,” Anastasio stated. “It’s two years since we went into hiding. This is still going on, and it’s an even lonelier trip.”

According to liner notes written by veteran rock journalist David Fricke, Mercy was recorded “just weeks” ago. Longtime Anastasio/Phish collaborator Bryce Goggin co-produced Mercy with Robert “RAab” Stevenson. The record was engineered and mixed by Mike Fahey.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Anastasio said. “Here I was, still at home, playing acoustic guitar. I thought, ‘These songs just want to be one guy with a guitar, singing.’”

Fricke’s essay indicates that the roots of Mercy date back to Anastasio’s first solo acoustic performances, which began with an initial three shows in 2017, followed by tours in 2018 and 2019.

“I found this weird thing happening [at the solo acoustic shows],” Anastasio said. “Where ‘Maze’ worked on acoustic guitar. Who would have thought that? ‘It’s about the jam, the organ solo.’ Turns out it wasn’t. It was about the lyrics and the music.”

Fricke further points to the solo concerts Anastasio held in June 2021 – his first performances in front of a full audience in over one year held in Saratoga Springs, New York and at The Beacon Theatre in New York City, the site of the previously mentioned “The Beacon Jams” residency – as having impacted the making of Mercy.

Those shows were “like a direct path, from my heart to the audience,” said Anastasio. “The honesty and simplicity of those shows – without it, this album would not have happened.”