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MercyMe’s guitarist Barry Graul hangs with Josh on the LifeSongs Morning Show to get pumped about the upcoming MEGA concert with MercyMe, TobyMac & Matthew West! Tickets are still available HERE. MercyMe has a new record, a new movie and like 4 tours they are juggling – so lots to chat about!
Barry Graul (MercyMe) | LifeSongs Morning Show (edited for clarity)
Josh: Thank you so much for choosing Uplifting LifeSongs, and I’m thrilled to introduce Barry Graul to the LifeSongs family. Barry, you play guitar with MercyMe and we’re gonna see you very soon at the Smoothie King Center, September 27th.
Barry Graul: Nice. Looking forward to that.
Josh: How long have you been writing songs professionally in Christian music?
Barry Graul: Oh, maybe pushing about 30 years.
Josh: That’s an incredible run.
Barry Graul: Yeah, that’s pretty good.
Josh: When you write a guitar lick, do you immediately think Bart’s gonna turn this into a song about heaven again?
Barry Graul: I have thousands of guitar licks, I think saved and for one to be used is pretty, pretty awesome. So I don’t care what he uses it for.
We never pay the bills. It doesn’t matter.
Josh: All right, so this tour with Toby Mack and Matthew West, this is like the biggest Christian music concert of the Fall across the country. I think between the three of y’all, the different acts, you’ve provided most of the hits for the last three decades.
Barry Graul: We’ve actually done two tours previously in the past two years with Toby. And it’s a pretty good time. We don’t hardly do festivals anymore. We pretty much take the summers off, which is when most festivals happen. And so we don’t get to play music with our friends or people that we know and love.
And so to be able to put a tour together where we can all be of one mind, you know, and get out there and do what we do, in different ways, you know, it’s, uh, yeah, we’re looking forward to it. A lot.
Josh: You guys really are in a place of mentorship when it comes to, to CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) today because you’ve been a part of so many groups and been a part of so many other groups’ stories – like you played in Whitecross, which is awesome.
You played some with DC Talk, right? I saw PFR on your Wikipedia page. They were my first love in Christian music.
Barry Graul: You know, they’re coming out with a new record, right?
Josh: No way – for real?
Barry Graul: Yeah. Yes. They’ve been working on it at our studio.
Josh: I’m thrilled that they’re all alive.
Barry Graul: Yeah,
Josh: because this was a long time ago.
Barry Graul: I’ll be sure to tell Joel that.
Josh: My first interaction with Christian Radio… They were doing an interview on WAY-FM in Nashville. (Yeah.) This was back in the early nineties and they had just released Goldie’s Last Day, which I was obsessed with.
And I called them, I asked them about their dog. They thought I was a little girl ’cause my voice had not dropped yet. And yeah. So I’m thrilled to hear that they’re still good.
Barry Graul: Yeah, man. Yeah, it’s gonna be good.
Josh: I remember when they came out it was, it was like, this is the second coming of the Beatles.
Barry Graul: Okay. Right. Yeah. You’re gonna love it. You’re gonna love it.
Josh: We’re talking with Barry Graul of MercyMe right now, and Barry, I Can Only Imagine 2 comes out in theaters in February of next year.
Barry Graul: Yes. Yes.
Josh: So is this like also a biographical film or are we going into uncharted fantasy sci-fi territory?
Like is it mercy me in space? Is this actually the third Dune movie?
Barry Graul: Man if only that were true. Oh, I still want to use a lights saber.
Josh: How involved are you guys in the band with the film production and the movies?
Barry Graul: I mean, our likeness is being used. We have actors…
Josh: You don’t have someone shadowing you, learning how to really get into the mind of Barry?
Barry Graul: You know, I had to send out a couple videos of how I played a couple things. That’s about it. And it’s gonna be great. We actually saw the very latest cut about two weeks ago, and man, it was really good. Really good. And it’s, it’s got some really funny moments too. So there’s emotional on both sides, you know?
And so, yeah, I think it’s, I think it’s gonna resonate.
Josh: Let’s play a little game. I like to call: Why Not? And this is actually based on the new music video you guys just released for. Why not now? Why not me? (Oh my goodness.) Looked like you guys had a lot of fun filming that.
Barry Graul: I can’t believe we actually did it in one day.
That’s what I can’t believe.
Josh: Was that filmed on like one of y’all’s properties?
Barry Graul: That’s in our studio. On our studio property, yeah.
Josh: You can check out the video by the way, on lifesongs.com. So first let’s start with why not now? What have you been putting off in your life that you should probably take care of?
Barry Graul: Whew. Hmm. I’m sure it’s fixing something that my wife wants me to fix.
Josh: Yeah, same. My, my car desperately needs an alignment.
Barry Graul: Yeah. Yeah, that’s about it. I’m actually pretty organized guy, so yeah.
Josh: Nice. Are you a a spreadsheet guy?
Barry Graul: Oh, no, no, no, no. A list guy. Definitely a list guy. Yes. Yes.
Josh: Lot of lists. Yes. I think that’s probably my most used app on my phone is my My Note app.
Barry Graul: Oh yeah. It just has so many notes. I love my notes.
Josh: Next question. Why not me? What do you get picked for last? And you kind of resent that?
Barry Graul: Hmm. Basketball, although it’s not one of my favorite sports to play after I rolled my ankle.
Josh: I was gonna say a relay race for me. Like, you know, they have the person who’s the anchor in a race?
I am just like outright an anchor. So the the song, Why Not Now? Why Not Me? talks about believing what Jesus thinks about us. What would Jesus tell you this morning that you need to hear and have a hard time believing?
Barry Graul: Hmm. He would say, and I know this, but he would say that I am forgiven for everything because sometimes I don’t really believe it. (Mm-hmm.) Grace is a hard thing to really grab a hold of sometimes because sometimes there’s so many reminders and your memory and it’s Satan just, you know, trying to steal you away from relationship. Thank goodness for forgiveness and mercy.
Josh: That’s a really good answer. Extend an invitation to the city of New Orleans to join you in concert September 27th.
Barry Graul: We love New Orleans and that’s why we’re coming to play there. Come out and see Toby and Matthew West. It’s gonna be a great time and we’re gonna worship together. It’s gonna be great. So come on out!