I attended Context 21, a speculative fiction literature convention in Columbus, over the weekend. I brought my camera to photograph my friend John Dalmas, who was a panelist in some of the sessions; I did not expect to hear any musicians play.

I was not prepared for the musical exposition by the group Wild Mercy. Lyrically savvy, musically diverse, moving and fun... this band is really really cool. I do not have a classification for this band... so I will copy from their semi-facetious self-description on their website: "neo-Celtic-powered post-industrial electro-acoustic folk-rock with jazz influences and freeform choral structure”. Whatever you want to call them... they are unique, talented and creative. I especially love the mixture of deep male vocals and soothing female vocals.

Before the show I had the opportunity to hear songwriter and guitarist Barry Childs-Helton discuss and read poetry. Enjoying his participation in that session, I felt compelled to hear him play with Wild Mercy later. It was the beginning of my interest in a very intriguing group of musicians. I hope to see them again in Columbus—hopefully on a large stage with a full lighting rig; I encourage all musicians to visit their website and get a copy of one of their CDs and consider inviting them to your show list.

I haven't even had time to listen to every song on their three albums, but already some of them are on my favorite's playlist. Wider Than We Know and Space Child Lullaby from the album Dream of a Far Light are a couple of my favorite songs.

Visit Wild Mercy at www.wildmercy.com.