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All right, this week on Live in the Bream, we have got some amazing guests with us. We've got Bart and Mike from Mercy Me, and they literally would not give me a more fancy introduction for them. These are humble guys, but they are worldwide best-selling artists.
who have been involved in so many different projects. They've got a brand new one now, which is amazing. Welcome, guys, to Live in the Dream. Such a treat, a privilege to have you. Yeah, thanks for having us. This is awesome. We're big fans. Well, the feeling is mutual. And I have to tell you, for a lot of folks, what they'll most identify you with is, I can only imagine, I mean, a song that just...
I mean, it washed over the world, the song, the movie, everything that goes with it. And I have to tell you, and I told you guys, I'm going to try not to cry on this podcast because your music and your stories are so powerful. But we played that song at my dad's funeral after he died suddenly. And it was one of his favorites. And I just know that it has spoken to so many people. So thank you for the beautiful things that you're putting into the world. I mean, Bart, I don't know if you want to give us a little backstory on that song before we get to your new stuff too.
Yeah, it was written a few years after my father passed away with cancer. He was...
for most of my life, it was an abusive relationship. And then he was diagnosed with cancer when I was a freshman in high school and he passed away and I was a freshman in college. And during that time, just he transformed, fell in love with Jesus and everything changed. And he went from the person I was most scared of to, to literally our best friend when he passed away. And, and it's funny because when I wrote the song a few years later and
People think it was like I'm some kind of super Christian or whatever and it was kind of the opposite. I was
And people kept saying, you know, if he could choose, he'd rather be there in heaven than here. And it didn't really settle well for me. I was like, what do you mean? Like, you know, I think I'd rather have him here. And so a lot of the questions aren't because I was like super spiritual. It's me asking, like, what is so great about this that he would, you know, rather, you know, not be here with me. And then in asking those questions, found myself just getting closer and closer and consumed with heaven. And just, yeah, just.
Been been talking about it ever since. Well, it's a, it's a beautiful, very comforting song for people of faith. And those of us who believe that we'll be again with our loved ones and our family members that we've had to say goodbye to. So it's a, it's to me such a bittersweet song just because it's the beauty of what's waiting for us. But it's always in that context of loss as well. Mike, tell me a little bit about what drives you guys. You've been at this a long time now, had a lot of success, but,
What's it about for you? Gosh, at this point, what else would we do? Like it's all we know how to do. Darn you being so talented. Yeah. It's just, we love it. We love doing what we do and our, our wives and our families still let us go out on the road and do it. You know, when we can, this last year has been a little weird, but yeah,
We love what we do. We love, like you said, we love hearing back the stories of how these songs have connected with people. And literally, we've had people tell us that these songs have saved their lives. People who had suicidal thoughts and how God will use something like a three-minute song to do that just is humbling. And we're grateful to get to still do it after all these years. Yeah.
So if people weren't already emotionally drawn to your music, this new project that you have in the story of your friend, Gary Miracle. I watched the video today and was once again, just blown away by the message, by the story. Tell people about how it came together. Well, the song Say I Won't, I started writing it in 2019 and
it all kind of started more about identity in Christ, understanding who you are and what's inside of you. And, and it's not uncommon to kind of step away from a song and,
finish it later. And during that time, Gary Miracle, who was our one of our first merch guys back 25 years ago, who's Mike's roommate. He's a terrible merch guy. But he didn't sell a lot of like koozies and no, not at all. He was too busy, like visiting with people and like having a good time. He's gave everything away. Yeah.
He probably felt bad. People would be like, I want that t-shirt, but I can't afford it. Well, Jesus told me you should have it. Yeah, probably. A lot of that, a lot of that. And so during the time in between finishing the song, Christmas of 19, Gary got really sick, had a blood infection and thought we were going to lose him. He flatlined for about seven minutes and they were able to save him, but kind of, I think they knew that,
that they'll probably have to take his limbs because of being on life support for so long. And sure enough, they did. And his attitude, his outlook during the whole thing was just, I've never seen anything like it. We had to watch from a distance because of the pandemic. And just, you know, the song kind of took a turn and started, it became kind of this overcomer kind of rocky type song where the bridge is like, keep saying I won't and I'll keep proving you wrong. And
And when we finished the song, we knew we wanted to be the first single.
And our label, we wanted to make a video that was powerful since we couldn't tour. And our label came to us and said, Hey, you know, there's this family that is struggling with something. We didn't know the family said, maybe you could tell that story. And it felt a little, a little kind of slimy because it's like we're exploiting someone's story to sell a song that we didn't know. And I think in that conversation, I was like, man, we don't need to do that. This story is about Gary. Oh, Gary, we should tell Gary story. And, and so, uh,
after talking to Gary and him telling me, he goes, man, you know, I want there to be purpose in this and people to be inspired to overcome whatever they're going through. But I don't know if I'm ready to get on a stage or start talking about it spiritually or emotionally. And I said, well, man, let us tell your story for you and kind of do the heavy lifting. And we can even protect you through all this until you are ready. And
And with tears in his eyes, he was him and his wife were both like, man, this is we didn't know what to pray for, but this is it. And and so we did the video ourselves and it turned out better than we ever thought possible. And Gary's amazing through the whole thing. We've kind of created a monster because now he's like, like the song's not moving up the charts like it should. We're like, easy there, pal. Oh, boy. Gary wants his own merch now. Yeah. He's he's ready for the next step. Yeah, probably going to happen. Probably going to happen.
But the video really is powerful and we'll link to it so people can check it out if they haven't seen it. And as you said, I mean, he goes through something that's so to most of us to like 99.9% of us would not be super spiritual enough in the midst of losing all four of our limbs.
and going through something like that to have a smile on our face. And I know he's been at this more than a year now into this journey, but to see his face in the video and to hear him say, say, I won't, I mean, to, to see what he's fighting through and to still be able to have faith in the midst of that. What a powerful thing. Yeah. It's, it's a, I,
It was a no brainer for us because we've known him for so long and he's, he kind of is a rock star. Like he, he just carries himself so well and we knew he'd relay the message like nobody else could. And, and we, we agree with him. There's, there's a purpose in this. You're still here. And so it's been a fun journey to kind of be on with him for sure. And then in like true, say I won't Gary miracle fashion. Like the day we filmed the video, he got news from his doctors that he was going to get fitted for his new legs. He'd just gotten his arm done.
And he was going to be about a year away from standing up for the first time. And it was three months later that he sends us a picture of him standing up for the first time. Wow. Like he just, he's not, he's not playing around. He's, he's going after it. It's pretty great. I know. Okay. I will work Gary's merch table. I will. I've done it before. I promise I won't give everything away. So tell me about the rest of the projects, what people can look forward to.
Well, the album took a little over two years to make, which is, that's a very long time for us. And in fact, our first single, which was Almost Home, was going to be like a year and a half old before the album comes out. And by the time it comes out, and we were supposed to release a couple months later, then the pandemic hit. And we intentionally kind of slowed everything down just to have something to do during the pandemic. It probably saved our lives and
and our marriages and we had bought this studio a couple years ago and so it's just it it was a it's been a lifesaver and and because we realized like through the pandemic songs were certainly going to come out of that and and everything kind of changed we just kept writing and writing through that season and to the point to where they we had an album title it changed to inhale exhale and
I think mainly because we kept saying over and over, we just want people to be able to take a deep breath, set aside the things that they're struggling with and just remember that
And, you know, focus on what matters. And so I think we said it enough times where it just seemed obvious that it should be called inhale, exhale. And it's not, we're kind of known for power ballads and funeral songs, if you will. And songs like Say I Won't are all about living. It's about taking advantage of every second of your life. And man, in the spring when the pandemic hit,
It felt like when the Titanic was going down, every musician jumped on the lifeboat that's YouTube or social media. And we started getting hit with all these incredibly emotional and powerful gut-wrenching songs from every direction. It's like watching The Notebook like 11 times a day, man. It was like tired of crying. I can't, right. Exactly. Emotionally tough to-
Yeah. And so we were just wanting to make somebody laugh or somebody dance. And so we released a song called hurry up and wait in the middle of it all, just, and just so we could make this corny video where I'm just in pajamas the whole time stuck in this cabin and
And it kind of became our theme for the album. We kept saying, if it doesn't rip your heart out, it needs to make them dance. And so there's a couple of powerful moments, but most of it is more like we hope you get caught at a red light dancing when nobody's looking. I do often. And I also play air instruments, drums, guitar.
maybe a little horn here and there um i'm a i'm a keyboard player so you know i i'll give you a little bit of that but um i do sometimes look over and think people are going to think i'm completely nuts but i'm okay with that oh yeah and we need that i mean i'm glad that was part of part of the plan for your for your product and i do feel old school like when you say album i i never know what to say anymore like album cassette download
Yeah, record. Right. Yeah, maybe I can get it with the 21st century download. NFT. Yeah, we still call it album. We'll have more of this interview coming up.
I want to ask you guys a serious question. Now I have saved a bag of cassette tapes.
from, you know, fabulous hits from the eighties and nineties. And I've saved a boom box that I can play them on every time we move or do something. My husband's like, wait, can we get rid of this now? I'm like, no, I'm sorry. Some of these are only available on cassette, right? What am I going to do? Do you guys have some cassettes you've saved? Actually, just like this last Christmas, we bought our kids, these little like super cheap Walkmans
and got on eBay and found like these bundles of cassettes you could buy with like greatest hits and Whitney Houston and Tom Petty and all, just all the classics.
yeah it was a lot of fun it i think the the walkman lasted about three days before it broke but those three days were yeah my kid was in the 80s oh yeah my kid has been into collecting vinyls for a while and then as he got older he's 19 now he started collecting cassettes i was like what is going on and then you know he found out i had like 3 000 cds in storage and so he's into that and i'm like
We're officially that old that CDs are a collector's item, but you got to hang on to the cassette. I don't know. You guys may be younger than me, but I remember getting a Walkman that had a CD player in it. And, you know, like it would be on a spin. You're trying to run, like go for a run. And the Discman was not up for the run.
Oh, yeah. Like maybe a brisk walk. But it was not it was not able to get the job. Did you ever try in motion? Did you ever try to set it on a little like something in your car so it wouldn't skip while you're trying to play in your car? It never worked. Yeah. That was our first bus when we were driving down the road. Like we literally had one up front like they had like the 20 second anti skip sitting on like foam egg cartons and whatever we could do to try. And it was horrible. Horrible.
So you can have a little party. Okay. So what are you guys looking forward to now? Because you've got this new album, people are getting vaccinated. We're getting to some kind of immunity out there. People are kind of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, hoping that we'll, one of the things I've missed the absolute most is live music, whether that's in church or a concert. What are you guys looking forward to? Or do you have a timeline?
We, uh, yeah, we're, we are looking forward to live music for sure. We have ready to go. He's looking at us. Oh man. Oh my gosh. We've done one show since about March 8th of last year. And, um,
And so we're about in mid-May, we're doing a handful of like minor league baseball stadiums, just that gives us plenty of room to spread out and outside. And so that'll be the first test. And then we're just all hoping that by the fall, things feel a little bit like normal, we hope.
We feel like it's going to get there. Well, in the meantime, people have gotten creative. I know a lot of people are doing drive-in theaters and now going to do minor league ball fields. You know, I think that people are going to be so hungry for these experiences just to be together with other human beings. Music is such a uniting thing. Sports, such a uniting thing. What are you guys looking forward to aside from work? What do you want to get back to? Baseball. Yeah, we're...
We were pretty excited to see. What's your team? Texas Rangers. Yeah. Okay. Hey, listen, the Rangers are like, come on back. They are going to fill this stadium. I mean, they're not waiting. Yeah. Our drummer actually, we, we, most of the band lives in the Nashville area. Our drummer still lives in Dallas and he was at opening day and he said it was, it just, it felt normal. Yeah. It was really good. Yeah. We're ready for baseball. It's just to be around humans, human contact. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Did you guys pick up anything new kind of being stuck? I mean, I'm glad you were working on this project. So we have that. But did you pick up any new hobbies? I hear people that have become like, you know, they've taken up a new instrument or a sport or handicrafts, you know, knitting. I don't know. What about for you guys? I guess. Yeah, I guess.
I started the hobby of putting on weight. I've got really good. You guys use your time wisely. I can see. Yes. Yes. There's a lot of ice cream to be eaten with my 11 year old daughter. Well, listen, that ice cream is not going to eat itself as we like. Absolutely. And there's a lot of different flavors to sample. That's right.
There's no doubt about that. Yeah, no, I mean, we really literally drug our feet on making this record because we knew we had at least a year to probably fill. And so it was, I mean, we would have, we had probably over 40 song ideas that we would start to chase and, and, and,
we would just keep going. Like it was last minute. Oh, maybe we need to do this song. Or so we'd work on something else and, you know, bring up. So there was one song that he had written early on that. A lot of us were like, I don't know if it's, if the lyrics match the music, if it's right. And, and, uh, in like 11th hour, he goes home and comes up with a totally different, like really pretty piano part for it. And, uh,
um it just it made the record complete and it was because we had the time to do it we had this space to do it and where we we weren't up against the clock you know of somebody else's studio time and the next band trying to get in and load in for their session or whatever we we could just take as long as we wanted so we definitely took full advantage of it do you think it'll change how you guys do projects in the future
It certainly could. It's interesting because we are excited to get back out on the road. For me, my happy place would be in the studio making music all the time and doing a handful of shows. And so it's just having your own space. You're not renting space or having to move out at the end of the week or whatever. And so
I think it'll allow us to get a little more creative. It may drive the label crazy because we can take it all the time we want. Sometimes deadlines are a good thing. So I hear, I don't know if it's true or not, but, but yeah, I think it'll definitely not that you're familiar with those. Right. Yeah. It'll definitely, I mean, we're up here all the time working on stuff and making, even when the album is done, like I'm still writing with people just,
It's just, I just, we just love doing it. And so, yeah, it's something good's got to keep coming out of it. I hope. I think we're going to start. It's like a, like a alternate ego band, probably country. I don't know. We'll see. Well, like when, when Garth Brooks did that thing, what was it? Chris, somebody was his person that he turned into. Yeah. Chris Gaines. Great. With the weird hair and all that. Yeah.
are you wait but are you guys gonna like have alternate personalities like like beyonce says she's sasha fierce when she goes on tour do you guys have your name i know she's told that from you yeah yeah hey small world talking about the chris gaines stuff the guys that wrote on that album
uh in this studio wrote uh they also wrote change the world the eric clapton song that was song of the year and stuff and so i never knew and you guys are the musical experts insiders in nashville and beyond i never knew what to make of that were we being punked was he seriously trying to go in another creative direction just to have fun with it or what
I don't know what to, I still, what, or 20 years later, I don't know what to do with Chris Gaines. That's a great question. We don't know when we know the guys that wrote and play on it and we still don't know. Yeah. I think that they would say that. No, no.
I don't know if we should say. We don't know what the, maybe Garth is the character and Chris Gaines is the real guy. You just don't know. I mean, it could be the other way around. That is a double. You heard it here first. Breaking news. Reverse psychology. He's been in character for years. News alert. I'm leading the show with that tonight. Okay. On a scale of one to 10, how happy are your family is going to be for you to get back on the road?
Or do they never want you to leave now? I would say our, our kids that come on the road with us from time to time, you know, like for daddy fun weekend, they are ready for us to go. They like our, our boys will come out on the bus and just live their best lives. Like they absolutely love it. So, um, they're probably certainly ready for us to get back on the road for that reason. Um,
Yeah. And I think that also we just, they know it's what we love to do. Like our wives know we love it. My wife calls a single parenting when we're gone, we're never gone more than like three or four days max. And, and it's, it's, we only do about six. Well, we, we were doing about 60 or 70 shows a year versus 200. And so it's, it's maintainable, but still my wife's like single parenting. So she's not, she's glad that we're working and just, but she's, I don't think she'll ever be thrilled with,
Me leaving five kids with her. Well, listen, we're so excited for the new music that you have. I hope people will check out the story, especially about Gary Miracle, but the broader project as well. And we so look forward to seeing you back out on the road for those shows. We hope it'll be the fall too, so that we can all enjoy seeing you guys in person doing what you love. Simply put, Bart and Mike from Mercy Me.
They're humble. That's all they wanted us to say. So we are really thrilled to have you on this week's Live in the Bream. Thank you guys so much. Thanks for having us on. Thank you so much. See you out there on the road soon. Hi, everybody. It's Brian Kilmeade. I want you to join me weekdays at 9 a.m. East as we break down the biggest stories of the day with some of the biggest newsmakers and, of course, what you think. Listen live or get the podcast now at BrianKilmeadeShow.com.