Third Day: Third Day (1996)

Tracks:

1. Nothing At All
2. Forever
3. Mama
4. Love Song
5. Blackbird
6. Thief
7. Consuming Fire
8. Did You Mean It
9. Holy Spirit
10. Livin' for Jesus
11. Take My Life
12. Praise Song   

It is April 1996.  I am a stranger in a strange land.  I have left my home and my family and replanted myself in the Buckeye State, starting a new chapter of life and throwing all of my chips into the middle of the table, not sure if the cards I'm holding with win the pile or not.  But I am in love.  I have a girl.  I have followed her 600 miles from home and now she's driving me to meet her pastor.  I am trying to explain to her why the Who's "Shakin' All Over" is a metaphor for spiritual ecstasy when she turns up the radio and says, "Oh!  I love this song!  This guy has such a sexy voice!"  It's a Christian radio station, so I'm concerned that she would describe a Christian singer as "sexy", but as I am a stranger in a strange car, I reserve my judgment.

The song on the radio is called "Forever," and at first I think I'm hearing a reunion of the Doobie Brothers or another of my beloved classic rock bands trying to make a comeback, because the "sexy singer" with the manly rough drawl sounds like he has to be at least 40.   Crunchy, deep-fried guitars sizzle and slide in the background, the bass is fat as a hog's behind, and the drums pound like a throbbing heartbeat.  It like nothing I've heard on a Christian radio station, because it should be on a classic rock station.

I ask my lady who wrote the strangely familiar music.  "It's Third Day!  They're awesome!  Look at their album!"  She hands me a CD with a peach on it.  As is my usual wont when handed a new album, I examine the booklet, and see a picture of five lean 'n' hungry rocker guys with grungy clothes and spartan hair cuts (except for the token dude with the long hair).  In the center is a close-cropped guy with piercing dark eyes, gotee, and stern expression, obvious the psycho leader of this gang of backwoods outlaws.  "Who's this guy?" I ask my bride-to-be.  "Oh, you mean that Third Day Guy?  Isn't he hot?  I just love guys with CRAZY EYES!"

I look at her with intense eyes and say, "So... what's your feelings about the Doobie Brothers..."

Such was my introduction to the band from Macon, Georgia who brought me back to Christian rock and roll.  I had thought Christian Music meant big dramatic ballads and cutesy singalongs that lacked the grit and power that I had found in the music of the 60s and 70s.  But now I heard rock music--I mean real, down home, ballsy rock and roll--that sang about Jesus and heaven and stuff I sang about in church.  Who knew?  Maybe the hand I was dealt would win after all.

The sexy, crazy-eyed, gravelly-voiced singer is Mac Powell, as charismatic a singer as you can find, and his voice is the horn that announces the arrival of the Fixible bus on the Third Day album cover.  The engine is the rhythm section of bassist Tai Anderson and drummer David Carr.  Riding shotgun are rhythm guitarist and jack-of-all-trades Mark Lee and lead guitarist Brad Avery.  They're Good Ol' Southern Boys and they're ready to rock, and on this debut album, they lay the groundwork for a 17-year career that at its heart is just classic Southern rock with a gospel message.  And they ain't afraid to preach to ya neither.  Like to spread gossip?  Mac's got a word for ya: "If you cain't say nothin' good, don't say nothin' at all!" (Track 1)  Went forward at church on Sunday and now thinkin' twice about it on Tuesday?  "Ya said you'd do anything...but did ya mean it?" (Track 8)  Sing in a world-famous rock and roll band that endorses recreational marijuana use and living a hedonistic lifestyle on the edge of disaster?   "Ya lost yer way, Blackbird...won't ya fly to heaven and be saved today?"(Track 6)

But they don't just preach, they also praise the Lord.  There's "Consuming Fire," which has probably been the most durable of the songs off of the album.  They still play it after all these years, and it stomps along in 6/8 time as Mac's acoustic guitar leads the charge.  There's the appropriately entitled "Praise Song" with none other than Rich Mullins plucking his hammer dulcimer as Mac rocks out with a melody that reminds me of the old gospel hymn "Revive Us Again."  And then there's the first-person character sketches like "Mama," a song from the perspective of a lost prodigal, and "Thief," a powerful confession by the titular character as he dies next to Jesus on the cross.

And they know how to mellow it down, too.  Mark Lee picks up an acoustic and strums along with Mac on "Love Song," the first of many TD songs written from the perspective of God/Jesus.  Mac's emotional delivery takes these kinds of tunes to another level that I have not heard often.  It's almost scary how much he evokes Jesus on this song.  Another one of those long-lasting numbers that they pull out of the closet once in a while. 

But let's not forget, this is just the beginning of the bus ride for the Georgia boys.  They still have lots to learn about songwriting, arranging, producing, and all that.  One of the follies of youth that rings out on this album is probably something they had little control over.  Like I said, Mac sounds like an old geezer when his vocals are right.  On this album, the producers manage to tweak the balance and pitch ever so slightly, I believe, to make his voice sound younger.  The result is that Powell sounds almost like a Southern rock chipmunk at times.  Maybe I'm hearing things, but compare the vocals of Third Day to Come Together and tell me there's not a glaring difference in the tone and pitch.

But that's not enough to diminish the rootsy power of this album, or its homegrown gospel charm.  These boys brought something back to rock and roll and Christian music that had been missing.  And it's a soulfulness that is almost foolish in its youthful enthusiasm for Jesus.  Even after all these years, that power rings true today when I hear these old songs.  Preach it, boys!