Hello all you big SLOBs out there! Well I am at home enjoying time with my family, so here is an old one, but a good one…I guess it’s a good one. I used to do these podcasts which I so brilliantly called “BartCasts” but I am not sure if anybody ever watched them, so if I can find them all, I will let you folks check’em out . This video was made during rehearsals of the “Coming Up To Breathe” tour, and it just goes to show that we have always been major goofballs just waiting for this blog…oops I mean SLOB to come along. A match made in heaven!

- bart

NASHVILLE, TN - In follow up to HYMNED, MercyMe frontman Bart Millard’s 2005 solo project, named one of Billboard and ChristianMusicToday.com’s Top Ten albums of 2005, comes his second effort, HYMNED AGAIN, which will hit nationwide on August 19th. The first single to be serviced to AC and Inspo radio formats will be “I Stand Amazed,” on July 4th, which features guest vocals by Christy Nockels.

Taking the production helm once again is Brown Bannister, who along with Millard’s passionate vocals and a famed line up of studio musicians, has created an impressive and diversified musical landscape on HYMNED AGAIN. Raised in East Texas relatively close to where many musical styles originated, Millard wanted to create an authentic sound with these old hymns, most of which date back to the 1800s and talk about sharing one’s faith during this era when evangelism was on the rise. Therefore, HYMNED AGAIN runs the stylistic gamut from New Orleans style horn-driven jazz to Texas blues-rock guitar, and country/bluegrass to banjo-featuring Dixieland, ’70s soul/gospel flavor, and one song centered on nothing more than a ukulele.

To top it off, the sole original track on the CD, written by Millard and Thad Cockrell, “Jesus Cares for Me,” features a duet with country superstar Vince Gill. “The one thing I’ve been looking to do is sing with Bart and check that off my Bucket List.” laughed Gill, who had some fun with Millard in the recording studio with his ‘Bucket List,’ video from which is featured on MercyMe’s blog page.  All kidding aside, the duet is surely a dream come true for Millard, who states, “I never imagined I would sing a duet with Vince Gill, and especially that it would be on one of my records. It was truly an incredible ‘pinch myself’ moment.”

While HYMNED was inspired by Millard’s grandmother, and the hymns she used to sing, HYMNED AGAIN was inspired moreso by his three kids. “My three kids know every word of the first hymns record I did,” he says. “These are songs that were a huge part of my upbringing, and now they are a part of my kids’ as well, so I had to do another one! And, true to form, they already have the new album memorized too.”
Millard is currently touring a full summer schedule with MercyMe supporting their latest hit project, ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME. The band will be touring this fall as well, dates for which are available on http://www.mercyme.org. Millard also just taped a special HYMNED AGAIN episode of the Gospel Music Channel’s Kitchen Sink program which is scheduled to air on September 27th.

the {m} media collective

Hello fellow SLOBs!

Well I am sitting in the dreaded middle seat on a crowded flight, and decided to say hello and get some stuff off my chest. In fact, I am starting a new series called “Bart’s Crowded Airplane Rant.” This is where, by “slobbing” on my iPhone, I will prevent myself from going absolutely nuts on the plane while the lady next to me falls asleep with her elbow jabbed in my ribs. All I am saying is I had the armrest first! So here we go with the first installment of “Bart’s Crowded Airplane Rant.” Enjoy. Oh Lord she just woke up coughing up a lung. I think I am gonna faint.

Cheesy church signs! Why do we do this? Everywhere I go, I see the small church marquee with something corny like “God checks His Knee-mail.” Are you kidding me? Knee-mail? Or how about “CH–CH. What’s missing? UR.” Come on churches, you’re killing me!

Do we sincerely believe that some guy, who does not know Christ, is gonna drive by and see a sign that says,” Get right or get left” and think to himself,” Wow, not only is it a witty play on words, but I think I need to go in and get things settled!” Probably not. In fact, most people will think it is a joke like most of the actual church does. Maybe that church sign is meant be used to inform people what time church starts, or to support the local high school team through the playoffs, but please, no more corny phrases…actually I take that back. Do I really wanna live in a word without these ridiculous phrases? Nope. I guess deep down I kind of enjoy these church signs being comic relief for the community. Besides, how else would I realize that summertime is hot, but hell is hotter. So nevermind.

Please, please by all means leave a comment with your best church sign gem.
 

Well we have decided that everything on this blog is pretty corny, which is awesome by the way, except for the name. A blog by MercyMe? Boooooo! We need something that pops! Something that says,”Seriously? That’s the name of your blog?” Something that says “You people need to walk away from the computer and get some sun on those indoor all day pasty white legs.” So after much deliberation we have come up with the name. Are you sitting down? Ladies and gentlemen we would to introduce you to MercyMe’s “Spectacular League Of Bloggers” aka S.L.O.B.

Now that is corny and awesome!  

Press “Play” before reading further.

So, my fellow Americans, we are no longer known as mere bloggers…oh no…we are now and forever known as “Slobbers!” Members of a secret society that will soon take over the entire world! Well actually it’s not really secret, and I’m not sure what it takes to make it an actual “society” and wow the world is a pretty big place, so maybe we’ll just go to somebody’s house and take over their pool or something. Maybe hog the remote to their tv. That could be pretty intimidating I guess. Whatever the case SLOBS  RULE!!!!

Are you a SLOB? I know I am.

Hey MercyMe bloggers aka MercyMoggers…or…uh..blergyMe…no…how about…MoggyBlee’rs. Anyways sorry we have been a little slow lately, but I am back from vacation, so we are back in business. Well, sort of in business. I need time to create stuff for the blog, and then we will be in business. So in the meantime, heeeeeeere’s Charlie!

-bart

On Vacation, I encountered the largest fan I have ever seen. And to think, we were looking for the world’s biggest ball of yarn. This destroys the yarn..I think.

-bart

Hey everybody, apparently we got a little ahead of ourselves when we posted our latest video to our new single “You Reign.” Our label asked us to wait until it actually went to radio, and then we could “release the hounds.”  In other words, do us a favor and call or go to your local Christian radio station’s website and start requesting to hear “You Reign.”  We would greatly appreciate it.  Because we should never forget that everytime MercyMe sings, an angel gets its wings…wait I don’t think that’s right…but let’s not take any chances.

Ok, and in the meantime, enjoy the video and thanks to all you goofballs out there that keep laughing at our blog.  If it were not for you…well…we would be blogging to people who don’t think we are very funny. And that’s not very fun at all.

-bart