Genre: Pop/Rock, Worship
Members: Bart Millard (vocals), Mike Scheuchzer (guitars), Jim Bryson (keyboards), Nathan Cochran (bass), Robby Shaffer (drums), Barry Graul (guitars)
For fans of: Train, U2, Steven Curtis Chapman, Train, NewSong, Coldplay, U2
Label: INO Records

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As the tried-and-true saying goes, when an orange is squeezed, orange juice comes out; because that is what's inside.

So what happens when a band finds itself under remarkable pressure, having to express an entire album in just three weeks with not one note of it yet written? What comes out?

In the case of MercyMe ("I Can Only Imagine"), it's All That Is Within Me, the strongest and most deliberately worshipful release in the multi-platinum rock act's career yet. And the story behind that time crunch is further indicative of all that is now within MercyMe.

"We thought we'd be able to write new songs on tour, but that notion has become absurd for us," admits lead singer Bart Millard.

Guitarist Mike Scheuchzer explains. "Besides all the work that goes along with being on the road, we're all married and have ten kids among us now, none over the age of five. Life is busier than ever before. So this time around, when the tour ended, we realized we were due back in a recording studio in less than a month, and we had nothing!" Instinctively, MercyMe hauled its gear from the tour bus back into a Sunday school room at a church in its hometown of Greenville, Texas, where the guys banged out fresh ideas after a much-needed week of rest with their families. From there, the group met up with venerable producer Brown Bannister (Amy Grant) in the woods of Idaho at a way-off-the-beaten-path studio called Cider Mountain Recorders. "I know . . . who goes to Idaho to make an album?" laughs Millard. "But it was amazing. Surrounded by nature, we'd see deer and turkeys just walking past the windows as we recorded. And it was really awesome to be able to put everything else aside. We needed to hunker down and get all the pieces together in just a couple of weeks."

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