Welcome to the first of many video shorts featuring The Generous Mr. Lovewell.
For more information and updates on when there are new videos posted follow Mr. Lovewell on Twitter and to see all the videos check out MrLovewell.com.
A Taste
December 30, 200911 CommentsHere’s a little taste of what’s to come. We’ve been in the studio for the past couple days recording.
Mr. Lovewell cometh…. May, 2010.
Hymned Again
June 23, 200813 Comments
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
Later April…Been Nice Knowing Ya.
April 6, 200811 Comments
MercyMe has gone to great lengths to try not to be away from home too much. When we plan a tour, we only book a few days out the week, so that we can still be husbands and dads.
Well, for me, April slipped through the cracks. Sometimes you say yes to things as far as a year in advance when the calendar looks wide open. Sometimes you keep saying yes, and suddenly, when the time comes, you freak out wondering how April got so slammed. Well guess what? Let freaking out commence.
Let’s see if I can explain, in detail, how April will go for me. It all actually started the last week of March with me in Nashville working on my solo album, “Hymned Again.” I finished vocals at roughly 3am on April 2nd and I went straight to my car and drove 9 hours getting home roughly at noon on the 2nd. I was home for the rest of the 2nd and 3rd, and right now, April 4th, I am typing this on a flight to Chicago for a MercyMe show tonight. We then have a show in Wisconsin tomorrow night, and a show in Iowa on Sunday. On Monday, April 7th, I will fly into Dallas with just enough time to meet my wife at the airport to catch another flight to Boston.
We are going to Fenway park for opening day…let me just say I am giddy with anticipation. Away with my wife and my first trip to Fenway! Can life get any better? I submit to you it cannot. Ok where was I…oh yeah…so I fly back home from Boston on Wednesday the 9th, and then fly out to Las Vegas on the 10th for a show at Nellis air force base. The show is actually on the 11th, but we have to soundcheck the night before, so it adds an extra day of being away from home. We then fly home from Vegas on the 12th where I will meet up with my family for a Texas Rangers game where Third Day happens to be performing as well. Gotta support your buddies any chance you can get. Are we tired yet? Heck I am tired right now.
Sunday the 13th I am home, and able to go to my home church, thank the Lord, and then on Monday the 14th I head to good ol’ London. Yep you read right, London. And here is the kicker…it is for one day. You may not realize this, but 2009 will be 10 years since I first wrote “I Can Only Imagine” and I have been given the opportunity to record “Imagine” with the entire London symphony at abbey road studios for a very special project we are working on. So I fly to London on the 14th, sing on the 15th and fly home on the 16th. Jet lag you say? Who has time for jet lag? Not me.
I am off to Colorado Springs the very next day on the 17th. I am there for two days and then fly to Jackson, TN for a show the night of the 19th. After that, we drive into Nashville for 4 fun filled days at the Gospel Music Association convention thingy and dove awards. Then after the band heads home, I stay over for 2 more days to wrap up my solo project followed by me flying back to Dallas on the 26th to meet up with the band for a show in Alvaredo, TX. This show will be emotional for me because it will be the end of a crazy month. I will be hugging people, singing friends are friends forever…you know, just like the last day of church camp.
The good news is I am home the entire month of May, but first I gotta get there. So if you have read all of this and not gone cross-eyed, I applaud you, and ask that you would pray for my family through this tough time. And pray that May will be such a special time together with my family that April might be forgotten.
April I love ya, but you got to go!!!!
