Third Day’s Mac Powell Releasing Country Album

He's the lead singer of one of the most successful bands in Christian music, but Third Day's frontman Mac Powell has his sights set on a different genre. The singer-songwriter has just finished his first country album, which he says really isn't a surprising switch.

"I grew up listening to country music," the 39-year-old tells Billboard. "It was a big part of shaping me musically and I think that's pretty evident in Third Day music. There's always been little tinge of it."

The singer-songwriter, who wrote many of the band's chart-topping hits, including "Call My Name" and "Cry Out to Jesus," partnered with Third Day's producer, Jason Hoard, and one of Nashville's most-successful tunesmiths, Brett James, to pen songs for his solo CD.

"I started writing with Brett. He was really the first step," Mac explains. "We hit it off really well and came up with a lot of ideas in a short amount of time, and then Jason worked on a few of those ideas as well. We started recording them and it just started feeling great. Jason brought in some friends of ours to play on the record. It came together very easily."

Still, his fellow bandmates don't need to worry that they are about to lose their founding member. "I've been very clear that we're not breaking up," he insists. "In fact, we're finishing up a brand new record that I'm really excited about. We worked with Brendan O'Brien who has produced Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and so many great records in the past 20 years. Getting to work with him here in Atlanta in our own studio was a great experience. That record comes out in the fall and we'll be touring it in the spring."

Mac is still weighing his options for a label for his new country CD, but he will introduce a few songs from the album next week at Nashville's CMA Music Fest. "I really can't wait to get it out there and have people hear it," he says.

Mac will perform on Thursday, June 7, at the Hard Rock Café. See the entire festival schedule here.