Big Daddy Weave’s Mike Weaver talks grief, God’s faithfulness and how late brother inspired new album

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor – Christian Post

Following a season marked by loss, healing and unexpected revival, Big Daddy Weave frontman Mike Weaver is finally ready to talk about the band’s long-awaited album.

“It’s been nuts,” the 49-year-old “Redeemed” singer told The Christian Post. “It’s been the biggest uphill album-making process of all time.”

Six years in the making, Let It Beginmarks Big Daddy Weave’s return to the studio and the stage after a series of devastating personal losses and a season of spiritual renewal. The 15-track collection, due out May 23 via Curb Records, is a chronicle of grief, faith and the stubborn, Spirit-led joy that grew in the aftermath.

Big Daddy Weave formed in 1998 at the University of Mobile in Alabama, where Mike Weaver studied voice after serving as a worship leader in Pensacola, Florida. Encouraged by his pastor, Weaver enrolled at the university and began building what would become one of Christian music’s most enduring acts.

“We thought with a name like Big Daddy Weave, we never really had much of a shot of going anywhere anyhow,” Weaver quipped.

The band has won Dove Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and K-LOVE Fan Awards, spending over two decades on the road and on the charts. In 2006 and 2007, they toured with Mark Schultz on the Broken and Beautiful tour, and in 2009 headlined the What Life Would Be Like tour with Josh Wilson. Weaver also released his autobiography, I Am Redeemed, in 2019.

“Six years between records is usually the death of a career,” Weaver said. “But we’ve never really viewed this as a career. The Lord has just sustained us, event by event, for 25 years.”

The new album is the band’s first since the death of Weaver’s younger brother and longtime bandmate, Jay Weaver, in early 2022, from complications related to COVID-19 at 42.

That followed a prolonged season of hardship for the Weaver family: their father died on Christmas morning in 2017, their mother in 2021, and Jay endured a brutal series of health challenges, including the loss of both feet in 2016, before his death.

“Jay went through this huge, life-altering health situation where he became a double amputee,” Weaver shared. “And man, he still came back and toured on the road. He was praying for people every night from a wheelchair and seeing the Holy Spirit bring healing in the lives of people and do miracles that Jay needed in his own body.”

“Jay was my best friend,” he added. “He was the hub in the middle of the wheel in Big Daddy Weave. Not just as a bass player, but in so many things.”

The pain of that loss echoes through Let It Begin, perhaps most clearly in the heart-wrenching tribute track, “Jaybird.” The song came about during a co-writing session with Matthew West and Jeff Pardo.

“It was terrible, and it was amazing, and it was therapeutic,” Weaver recalled. “Matthew and Jeff let me talk for an hour straight. I was just crying, pouring it all out.”

As Mike recounted his grief, West turned his phone around to reveal nine potential song titles. “He goes, ‘This is not just a song today. This is a record,'” Weaver said.

“If it had been about anything other than grief, it would have been amazing,” he added. “But I was dying in every room.”

From there, a deeply vulnerable writing retreat followed. Among the many songs was “I’ve Just Seen Too Much,” which Weaver described as perhaps the hardest song he’s ever written.

Weaver recalled how Bentley suggested the title “Jaybird,” initially giving him pause. “I said, ‘You got the wrong animal, dude. We called him Jay Dog.’ And then I heard in my heart, ‘Yeah, but dogs don’t fly.'”

Even performing the song live was, at first, unbearable. “I had to plan places in the show to fall apart,” he admitted. “Until one night, I didn’t fall apart. And I realized something was happening. I was healing.”

“Going through grief with Jesus and so many other people who are dealing with loss, that was the beginning of healing. And that’s what this record is about.”

Weaver said Jay would have had a very different reaction to the song dedicated in his honor.

“I think he’d be like, ‘Stop bellyaching so much.’ He’d say, ‘Give me a break, dude. Stop being such a wuss,'” Weaver laughed. “He’d be like, ‘Dude, I’m with Jesus.’ That’s just who he was, he’d say something awkward and funny and polarizing in the room, just because it was his own sense of

humor. He wouldn’t do it for anyone else. It was just his way.”

“And he would have quickly reminded me to keep this about Jesus, because that’s how he lived his life, even to the very end. I’m telling you, he was an amazing man, and I feel like I’m still learning from him today.”

Healing, in fact, is at the core of Let It Begin. The title track, written by Matt Maher, gave the band not only a name for the project, but a framework.

“It’s a process,” Weaver said. “It’s the beginning of healing. I’ve seen Jesus in rooms all over the United States for over two decades, do miracles in an instant. But I’ve also seen Him call people into a process where He walks with us through something bigger.”

Still, joy has not come easily. Weaver was candid about his lowest moments.

“Towards the end of last year, I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t even know myself right now.’ I was in an all-time low,” he said. “Even after writing and recording a bunch of these songs.”

“But man, even over the last months, I’ve had encounters with Jesus that have literally been life-altering,” Weaver said. “If there’s joy in it at all, it’s in Him. Joy is not just an emotion.

Reflecting on how he reconciles suffering with the goodness of God, Weaver said, “Honestly, I wish I could tell you I’m as happy as I seem all the time. But it’s really not like that. I don’t bring the consistency to the relationship. If there’s anything I bring, it’s my inconsistency. But Jesus is so

faithful. He continues to pull me out of the pit.”

“We were reading in Revelation, where it says Jesus has written on His thigh: Faithful and True. I’ve experienced the God of that tattoo,” he said.

That faithfulness, Weaver said, is written into every track on the new album. “Even the lowest songs still have His faithfulness at the bottom of them.”

The healing hasn’t been limited to the studio. It continued on the road with the band’s Let It Begin Tour, which features Ben Fuller and Megan Woods. A turning point came when Weaver crossed paths with Fuller at an industry event.

“I was having one of the worst days of my life, trying to make an exit, and Ben was making an entrance. We collided,” Weaver said. “When he hugged me, something happened. It was like hugging a version of myself I hadn’t seen in seven years.”

“Ben Fuller is currently a walking revival,” he added.

That moment became a catalyst. On tour, Weaver watched Fuller pray over a young man battling suicidal thoughts.

“Ben hugged him and just kept whispering, ‘You’re going to live,'” Weaver said. “I watched Jesus change the color of that kid’s face. It was like a cadaver came to life.”

Moments like that have reignited Weaver’s passion for ministry, a word he says means something very different now than when the band started decades ago.

“At first, I thought if we could just do something great for Jesus, then we’d have an amazing testimony. We’d be Olympians for Jesus. But that’s never been my story,” he said. “My story is falling apart and Jesus putting it back together. And that is the testimony.”

“I used to deal with self-hatred because I couldn’t have it together for Jesus,” he added. “Jesus said to me, ‘Mike, what you seem to be having trouble with is called the Gospel.’ He said, ‘You couldn’t do it. You can’t do it. That’s why I had to come.'”

Today, ministry for Weaver means showing up authentically and pointing people to the Jesus who still changes lives.

“He’s not a religious idea. Jesus is a person. He overcame the grave, and He’s right here with us now, with life-changing power,” he said. “I don’t even want to just play shows anymore. I want to see revival.”

As Let It Begin prepares to meet the world, Mike Weaver said he prays it meets listeners where they are and offers the hope found only in Christ.

“For people just starting their grief journey, I want to say this: It doesn’t have to stay this way. Jesus will walk you through it. And there is a better day coming in Him.”

Big Daddy Weave’s Let It Begin will be available everywhere on May 23. The band released the single “Let It Begin” on March 15, 2024, and is on the spring leg of their Heaven Changes Everything tour, accompanied by Hannah Kerr and Austin French.