Jazz it up for songwriter Johnny Mercer, born on November 18, 1909 in Savannah, Georgia. I pay tribute to him on my weekly jazz/ballads/American-popular-song program, Afterglow, with Too Marvelous With Words: Johnny Mercer, America's Poet Laureate. The show features a broad survey of Mercer's songs, as well as an interview with Afterglow founding host and Mercer devotee, Dick Bishop.
Next week's Afterglow will take a look at Mercer's collaborations with Hoagy Carmichael, another composer who girded his laid-back, rural charm with sophisticated songsmithing.
For some of Mercer's great, jazzy vocal work, check out the earlier Afterglow program The Songwriter Sings: Johnny Mercer.