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10 Questions with ... Robby Shaffer with MercyMe
April 10, 2023
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1. Share about that new song/album of yours.
I really feel like this album takes us back to old school MercyMe sounds. Inhale / Exhale was an album that came out of the covid lockdown, where we got to just go to our cabin and make music that we wanted to make and made people dance. Always Only Jesus is several songs we wrote for Inhale / Exhale that didn't really fit that album, but we loved. So, we decided to make an EP. But once we got to finishing these songs, we wrote a few more and made a full record. Hopefully people find themselves worshiping to these songs that we feel are very fitting for where we are as a body of Christ.
2. Share a challenging part of the past year.
I think the most challenging part of last year was getting back into the flow of things. I feel like we lost a couple years since covid and not being able to perform for so long. We were super excited to get back to full shows last year but seems like we had to kind of find our groove from the time off. I think it took a bit for people to feel comfortable going back to concerts as well. Bet evening thing seems to be back to normal now.
3. Some really great advice you received recently was…
Well, I like golf. So got this tip: Make my takeaway from the ball on my backswing slower and lower to the ground.
4. How do you continue to deepen your relationship with Jesus?
We feel like what you see on stage from MM should be an overflow of what we are on a day-to-day basis. So, keeping our relationship with Christ healthy in our off time is key. Listening to sermons from home churches, going to church with our families when are off and even just discussions with close friends and family. The good thing is, it's not about us. So even if one of us is in a tough place personally, God still moves at our shows even despite us.
5. Share how you balance creating, recording, and performing.
The longer we do this, the more we enjoy being home and creating music versus the travel and performance. We decided years ago to cut way back on travel to give us more time with our families and creating. It's been huge. The covid shutdown also made it hard to want to get back to full travel. We try to take as much time off with our families as we do work. So, we do about 50-60 shows a year. The rest of the time we are creating content, music, and spending time with our families. So far, this formula works.
6. Tell us about someone who you really respect and why.
We love working with one of our producers Brown Bannister. He is a legend in Christian music. He is the best encourager and visionary when it comes to making music. He has become a dear friend and we are so blessed to have been able to work with him so much over there years.
7. What's one thing that most people would be surprised to learn about you?
At the age of 14 I went on a short-term mission trip to Hong Kong and smuggled bibles into communist China. Too long of story to tell here. But was a big deal for me as a teenager.
8. What's your favorite room at home and why?
My media room. We spend most of our evenings in there. We love movies and watching sports. So, it gets plenty of use.
9. What's something you're looking forward to?
My son just turned 17. He's on his high school team varsity baseball team this spring. He's a pitcher and has been working really hard. I'm excited to watch and see what he can do.
10. What do you do to chill and unwind?
I love to sit on my back porch on a nice Texas evening with some music and fire pit. But I do love to play golf too. I know that's not really winding down, but it's how I like to spend my free time.
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