The members of The Innocence Mission have been band mates for a long time and friends for even longer. Guitarist Don Peris and bassist Mike Bitts met as cub scouts when they were seven years old and vocalist/pianist Karen (McCullough) met the pair during high school in their hometown of Lancaster, PA, when they all took part in the school production of "Godspell". Karen sang one line in the play and that’s where it all began. Both boys, Karen says, were generally regarded as musical geniuses by their classmates.

Years later the group began to make recordings together,mostly from songs that Karen had written, and took the show on the road.They often drove in a packed station wagon to Philadelphia and New York. Soon Don and Karen were married. After making three albums with A&M Records, The Innocence Mission recorded Birds of My Neighborhood in 1999, which was self-produced and released on an independent label. This album, the band says, sounds like, and was, a new beginning for them.

NPR selected Befriended (2003) as one of the year's ten best albums.