MercyMe, Big Daddy Weave, Tim Timmons, and Sam Wesley

Since their debut in 2001, GRAMMY®-nominated, American Music Award and multiple Dove Award winners MercyMe have sold more than 8.5 million units in CD, single and DVD sales, garnered 26 No. 1 multi-format Christian radio singles and four consecutive mainstream radio hits with “I Can Only Imagine,” (No. 4 AC/Top 25 on Top 40/Hot AC), “Here With Me” (No. 4 AC), “Homesick” (Top 10 AC), and “So Long Self.”

Their radio success has continued with their recent single “Greater,” which held the No. 1 spot at Christian radio for 16 weeks. MercyMe made history in 2014 as “I Can Only Imagine” surpassed 2 million digital downloads, making it the first song in Christian music to go platinum and double-platinum in the digital domain. In 2009, Billboard named MercyMe's "Word Of God Speak" the No. 1 Song of The Decade and the group the No. 1 Artist of the Decade in both the Christian Songs and Christian AC Songs categories, recognizing them as one of the industry's most notable talents. MercyMe has sold out venues across the nation, including Radio City Music Hall, and has appeared on The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CNN, Fox New Channel's Fox & Friends, ABC News, CBS This Morning and in the pages of Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, USA Today, Billboard and more. Their eighth studio album, Welcome To The New, garnered Billboard Music Award nominations in all three Christian categories and two GRAMMY® nods.

The current lineup of Big Daddy Weave is almost identical to the original, formed now over a decade ago; Mike Weaver is the frontman, singing and playing guitar, his brother Jay Weaver plays bass, Jeremy Redmon is on lead guitar and Joe Shirk is a multi-instrumentalist, usually playing either saxophone or keyboards. Only Brian Belhi, on drums, is a recent addition, joining the band in 2013 after original sticksman Jeff Jones departed to focus on other endeavors. Big Daddy Weave are by no means a Christian rock band in the kind of abstract way that, say, Creed became known for - they deal with typical Christian topics directly in their lyrics, and their hits include the likes of ‘Audience of One’, ‘What Would Life Be Like’, Every Time I Breathe’, ‘In Christ’, ‘Fields of Grace’, ‘Without You’ and ‘Redeemed’.

The band came together whilst all studying at college, at the University of Mobile; there’s more than a little suggestion, though, that there might have been some divine intervention behind the group’s formation. Frontman Mike Weaver was originally a worship leader in Pensacola, Florida. Thankfully, for the group’s legions of fans, he only moved to Mobile at the behest of his pastor, who was convinced that the vocally gifted Weaver should have been studying voice.