The Sweet Mercy Band began as a songwriting partnership when guitarist Bill Sanders was encouraged by friends to not waste the gifts the Lord gave him. The mission of the band is to write songs that the Lord can use to touch people's lives. Their sound is a mix of Country, Southern Rock and Blues. They released their first album, "Sweet Mercy" in October of 2017. 3 million streams on Spotify and inclusion in the rotations of over 500 radio stations later they are praising the Lord for blessing the songs He gave them. Their follow up album, "Brothers and Sisters" was released in March of 2021 with Kira Shcherbakova on lead vocals. In 2022 singer songwriter Denia Shanelle joined the band and the result was the band’s third album, @Walk By Faith”. The band is currently working on their fourth album at Cadence Music.
Bill Sanders Jr.: Bill wasn't even in school yet when he saw Country guitarist and singer Glenn Campbell on TV. He was convinced that he wanted to play guitar. He pleaded with his parents to get him a guitar. They did and he set out learning chords from his father who also played. He wrote his first song when he was in the 3rd grade. By the time he was in Junior High he was getting good and his father knew he should get him formal lessons. Bill's only guitar teacher was a Jazz guitarist who hated every style of music that Bill wanted to learn to play. This teacher did however, teach Bill theory as he was teaching him the instrument. This gave Bill the ability to not only play better but made him a much more proficient songwriter.
Half way through his senior year of high school Bill attended a Christian rock concert and at that concert he was convinced, by the Holy Spirit that he was a sinner and that Jesus had done everything he needed to be forgiven and become a Child of God. Bill put his faith in Jesus. He was playing in a rock band at the time and instantly began changing the lyrics of songs he was singing to reflect his new faith and direction in his life.
Over the years Bill has played in bands that have been honored to have opened up for some of the heavy weights in the music industry. He has done session work for some of his heroes as well. He is glad that in The Sweet Mercy Band he does not have to compromise either his faith or his commitment to play great music.
