The Generous Mr. Lovewell (2010)

The Generous Mr. Lovewell is the seventh studio album by the Christian rock band MercyMe, released on May 4, 2010 by INO Records/Sony Music. The album was produced by Brown Bannister and Dan Muckala. This was also the last MercyMe album to feature founding member and keyboardist Jim Bryson and the last album to be released under the INO Records name. The following year, INO Records was renamed Fair Trade Services or Fair Trade with distribution continuing with Sony Music and Provident Label Group.

MercyMe returns with the their first new album in three years with The Generous Mr. Lovewell and their first album of the 2010s. The album is a concept record revolving around a fictional, allegorical character, "Mr. Lovewell," and the overall theme of love. The idea for the character of "Mr. Lovewell" and the album came up while the band was attempting to figure out concepts for the record. According to lead singer Bart Millard "we [MercyMe] were trying to come up with the concept for our next record. For some reason, the words 'love well' got stuck in my head." Millard elaborated that "we're very good, as a nation, at loving well when a massive tragedy takes place... We all of a sudden become very unified, which is a great, great thing. But on a day-to-day basis, we pass up opportunities. We look the other way, or we try to ignore. So the idea of loving well is almost a kind of 'pay it forward' that revolves around the cross." The character of "Lovewell" was partly inspired by The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The album's overall sound varies on the theme of love, with many falling outside of MercyMe's comfort zone of adult contemporary sounds. The title track takes a musical feel similar to that of The Beatles. "Move" has a dance rock sound and "This Life" takes on electronic rock. The lead single "All of Creation" has their familiar AC sound that MercyMe is known for and works well on Christian radio. The song topped the Billboard Christian Music charts, plus it peaked at number 14 on the Heatseekers Songs and number 11 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 charts.

Two other singles were released: "Beautiful" and "Move." "Beautiful" (the second single) was written for the daughters of the band's members. The song's lyrics revolve around self-worth and the love of God. The song also topped the Christian music charts in Billboard.

The Generous Mr. Lovewell debuted and topped the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart for six weeks in May 2010. Over on the Billboard 200 Albums, it debuted and peaked at number 3, their highest charting MercyMe album to date with 88,000 copies sold in its first week. 80% of the album's sales came from Christian retailers. The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry

Association of America (RIAA) for sales of half a million copies in 2015. In 2011, MercyMe was nominated for Top Christian Album for The Generous Mr. Lovewell and Top Christian Song for "All of Creation" at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards and were nominated for a Dove Award for Group of the Year and their track "All of Creation" was nominated for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year and Song of the Year.

Track listing

1. This Life (MercyMe, Dan Muckala) -3:35

2. The Generous Mr. Lovewell (MercyMe) -4:11

3. Move (MercyMe, Dan Muckala) -3:00

4. Crazy Enough (MercyMe) -4:07

5. All of Creation (MercyMe, Brown Bannister, Dan Muckala) -3:57

6. Beautiful (MercyMe, Brown Bannister, Dan Muckala) -4:22

7. Back to You (MercyMe, Dan Muckala) -4:12

8. Only You Remain (MercyMe, Jason Ingram, Dan Muckala) -4:51

9. Free (MercyMe, Jason Ingram, Dan Muckala) -4:10

10. Won't You Be My Love (Bart Millard, Thad Cockrell, Nick Kish) -5:17

11. This So Called Love (Bart Millard) -1:37

Personnel

MercyMe:

Bart Millard -lead vocals, backing vocals

Jim Bryson -keyboards, backing vocals

Barry Graul -guitars, backing vocals

Mike Scheuchzer -guitars, backing vocals

Nathan Cochran -bass guitar, backing vocals

Robby Shaffer -drums

additional musicians:

Dan Muckala -programming, backing vocals

Chuck Butler and Adam Lester -musicians

Carly Bannister, Dan Ostebo, Ellie Holcomb, Josh Havens, Matt Fuqua, Thad

Cockrell -backing vocals

RIAA certifications

Gold certified in 2015.

Radio singles

2010 "All of Creation" -#1 Billboard Hot Christian Songs for 9 weeks, -#1 Billboard

Christian Airplay for 9 weeks, -#1 Billboard Christian AC Airplay for 11 weeks, -#14

Billboard Heatseekers Songs, -#11 Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100

2010 -2011 "Beautiful" -#1 Billboard Hot Christian Songs, -#1 Billboard Christian

Airplay, -#1 Billboard Christian AC Airplay for 2 weeks

2011 "Move" -#1 Billboard Hot Christian Songs for 9 weeks, -#1 Billboard Christian

Airplay for 9 weeks, -#1 Billboard Christian AC Airplay for 2 weeks, -#20 Billboard

Bubbling Hot 100

Previous release: 10 (2009) (compilation album) 

Next release: The Worship Sessions (2011)

Watch the "unofficial" music video of "The Generous Mr. Lovewell" here: