Mercer University holds a special place in the heart of award-winning music producer Steve Ivey, a 1984 School of Music alumnus. It’s where he met his wife and built the foundation to start his recording career. In more recent years, he discovered his family roots are also connected to the University, inspiring an album that’s themed around the heroic stories of his ancestors, Georgians and other figures at the forefront of America’s founding.
In late 2025, Ivey released “The American Revolution: Unsung Heroes,” a 24-track album that required extensive historical research.
Ivey is a two-time Emmy Award winner and four-time Grammy nominee, and 17 of his works have reached No. 1 on the Billboard music charts. He is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist/harmonist and has written, recorded and/or produced more than 300 albums and thousands of songs.
He has collaborated with musicians such as Dolly Parton, Vince Gill and Willie Nelson; worked with companies such as Bath & Body Works, Sony and Chevrolet; and done television or film projects for NBC, ABC, Warner Bros., The Weather Channel, The E! Network, “The Care Bears,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Selma,” “Army Wives” and more.
But before those projects and accomplishments, it all started at Mercer, Ivey said. He bought his first guitar at age 18 for $350 at a store on Riverside Drive and came into Mercer’s School of Music with limited guitar skills. The first couple years were challenging for him, but he eventually decided he wanted to go into songwriting and producing.
Dr. Lowen Marshall, the school’s dean at the time, allowed Ivey to get class credit while learning the ropes at a local recording studio. He continued to help at the studio and did his first recording project there.
In a way, Ivey was the first student to take a music recording course at Mercer, he said. Today, Mercer owns and operates the revived Capricorn Sound Studios and is launching a Bachelor of Music in Production program in fall 2026, both of which Ivey is involved in.
“Now here we are, full circle, and putting together this whole program,” Ivey said. “I’m excited to be a part of that and see all the efforts we put in over the last five, six years at Capricorn finally coming to fruition.”
As a Mercer student, Ivey met his future wife when he was throwing a football on campus one day and the ball landed near her. Sandy, who holds a psychology degree from the University, told Ivey she’d give his football back if he helped her move some furniture out of her room. As a couple, they often climbed one of the campus magnolia trees, and it was on those branches that they decided to get married.
“So, Mercer’s a special place for us, and here we are 41 years of marriage later and Mercer had everything to do with it,” Ivey said. “I spent my career doing exactly what I learned at Mercer. There are things I use every day that I learned in the music school.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree, Ivey got his master’s degree in arts music and marketing at Southwestern University in Texas and then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he and Sandy have now lived for 36 years. Sandy is a dedicated community volunteer and helped start a foster kids organization called Tennessee Alliance for Kids.
Ivey and Sandy return to Macon often and remain close friends with former Mercer President Dr. R. Kirby Godsey and his son, Hunter. During a visit about a decade ago, Dr. Godsey took Ivey by surprise when he said, “You know, your family money paid for Mercer.”
Dr. Godsey then shared the story of Capt. Abram Simons, an ancestor on Ivey’s mother Glenda Simons Ivey’s side of the family. He fought in the American Revolution and was a member of the group that defeated the British at the Battle of Kettle Creek, a crucial milestone in the Revolution. Simons married Nancy Mills Simons, who inherited his wealth after his death. She later wed Jesse Mercer, and they used the money to start what is now known as Mercer University.
“I could not get it out of my brain. I sat up half the night researching Capt. Abram Simons,” Ivey said.
About two years ago, Ivey got back to his research, and “The American Revolution: Unsung Heroes” album began to take shape. He wrote a jig to honor Simons and another song about Simons and Austin Dabney, who fought alongside him in the Battle of Kettle Creek.
As he combed through historical records, he found more inspiring stories about “unsung heroes” from this time period in Georgia and beyond. This led to songs about Deborah Sampson, who dressed as a man so she could fight with minutemen; a female spy of an unknown name who exposed Benedict Arnold; John Ward Waltz, a Georgia scout from the Yuchi/Creek Native American tribe; Crispus Attucks, the first person killed during the Boston Tea Party; and Jack Jouett, who rode 40 miles in the dark to keep George Washington and his generals from British capture.
To most, these are unfamiliar names, and Ivey wanted to use his music and lyrics to shed light on them and their stories.
“I tried to put myself mentally in these situations these people were in. They’re fighting for their freedom and their life, and it’s something we really take for granted these days,” Ivey said. “There are so many stories of bravery. I wanted these songs to honor their contribution, their sacrifice. I wanted the lyrics to really try and take you there and to make you feel a small portion of what these people did.”
With the exception of fiddle, Ivey performed most of the other instrumentation on the album as well as backing vocals and recruited musicians he had worked with over the years for leading vocals. He produced the album in his home studio.
Ivey has done themed, concept writing for many years, but this was his first project that revolved around American history. He intentionally timed the album’s release for right before America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
Since “American Revolution,” Ivey has been involved in a number of other projects. In fall 2025, he wrote a Mercer hype song called “It’s Good to Be a Bear.” He released two holiday albums, instrumental album “Pickin’ and Grinning” and, most recently, jazz-inspired record “Lost Key.” He is working on another instrumental album and a Celtic record.
Ivey is continuing to research Sampson’s history and has started writing a musical about her, with three songs completed so far. A longtime pet owner, he also just launched an app called “Buck and Bell” that includes resources for choosing the right pet, pet training and travel tips, play dates, and classical albums to help calm pets when their owners are gone.
