You don't have to look further back than Sasha Mercedes' roots to understand what fuels her music. 

"I was shaken from my mother's womb from the impact of a head-on collision on the back roads of northern MN one frigid winter's night," Mercedes writes in the bio to her profile on the music web site Reverb Nation.

"I grew up in a cabin in the woods with no running water," she writes. "When I wasn't being toted around the country in an old school bus my dad converted into a house on wheels, I was back stage with him as he performed with his rock band all through the '80s." 

Mercedes followed in his sodden steps, turning out her first solo album at 17, has released two since and is producing a fourth. Her songs touch on and tackle a range of off-kilter themes, including "brothels, one-night stands and transvestites."

You'll hear her takes on those and other topics that "may cause unease" when Mercedes performs at 8 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Dunn Bros. of Excelsior.

Despite her penchant for the off-beat, including a stint in what she calls a "psychedelic goth rock band," Mercedes is rooted in standard bluegrass and folk. She has shared venues with Dar Williams, Tracy Bonham, Guy Davis and Pete Seeger, among others.

"My music is a culmination of many genres and is a result of drawing on the different styles and elements I've been fortunate enough to have been exposed to," writes Mercedes, who grew up near Lake Superior and now lives in Minneapolis. "I am playing out every weekend, giving interactive seminars on the songwriting process and trying to gain a fan base here in the metro."