Rocco DeLuca Has Mercy

The lengthy trek kicks off March 10 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and runs through early May.

Highlights include stops at Martini Ranch in Phoenix (March 14), La Zona Rosa in Austin during South by Southwest (March 19), Exit/In in Nashville (March 25), Amos’ Southend in Charlotte, N.C. (April 3), Bowery Ballroom in New York City (April 8), Magic Bag in Detroit (April 16), Turner Hall in Milwaukee (April 24) and Knitting Factory in Spokane, Wash. (May 2).

Tickets for the trek go on sale beginning Feb. 6.

To record Mercy, which hits the streets the same day as the tour kicks off, DeLuca enlisted the talents of producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan) to help craft almost a dozen songs built on his inventive dobro playing.

DeLuca and Lanois approached the recording of Mercy much like the singer approaches playing the dobro – without neither pretension nor precondition. The duo would record one song live during the day, mix it at night, with minimal live overdubbing of additional tracks and quickly move to the next song the following day. From this process, the album and the songs dictated themselves.

Lanois wanted to capture the live feel of DeLuca, and the artist and producer settled in to their efficient recording style, keeping the album, as DeLuca says, “as pure as they could.” They recorded this way for seven days completing work on half the record before they took a quick hiatus while Lanois worked with U2. Upon his return, they maintained their record-during-the-day-and-mix-at-night studio structure and finished the album.

Click here to check out the video for “Save Yourself” which was featured on the DVD for Fox’s movie “24: Redemption.”

Hmm, looks like Kiefer Sutherland may still have a hand in DeLuca’s career.