Nashville TN — Mac Powell’s musical star began to rise at a young age.   When he was a sophomore in high school, the Alabama native relocated to Atlanta and formed Third Day, a top contemporary Christian band that has won four Grammy awards and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2009. While growing up, his family listened to everything from The Beatles to the Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

The musician released his eponymous country debut album in 2012. While he continues to front Third Day, playing numerous dates per year, Mac’s passion for country music has grown. As one listen to Southpaw will confirm, this is no sideline or vanity project. Powell is embarking on his career as a solo country artist the way most new country artists do, by traveling cross country in a van, playing smaller venues and introducing fans to another aspect of the entertainer for whom this thrilling excursion into country music is anything but a mere hobby.

Further evidence of the quality ofMac’s relatively newly established country roots includes the talent who has chosen to work with him on this path. His second album Southpaw (street date October 14) finds him working with Travis Tritt, Sugarland’s Kristian Bush and Darius Rucker, the former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman who successfully swapped genres and is now a country favorite.

With regards to Rucker’s country music career, Mac told him “’What you’ve done inspired me. Because it showed me that it can be done.’ I know that he put a lot of work into making that (switch) happen. It’s a little different in the sense that he wasn’t really doing a lot of Hootie & the Blowfish and I’m still doing 100 Third Day dates a year. But it gave me hope that I can try it as well.”

Mac shares a co-write with Travis Tritt on the tracks “90 to Nothing” and “Runaway Train.”   Notes Mac, “Musically, I have looked up to him for so long and people told me for years that I sound like him. He lives 20 minutes away from me. I always joke and say there’s something in the water. That’s how we sound like that. When I get together with Travis, I just want to quit because he’s really good. He kind of blows me away with how good he still is.”

Mutual admirers of each other’s work, Powell’s co-writing session with Sugarland’s Kristian Bush yielded one of Southpaw‘s emotional highpoints in “Everything to Me.” “I love what he’s doing, even with his solo work,” says Mac.   “To see a musician or an artist have a genuine love for their craft and a love for music, it’s inspiring. It was great to sit down with him for a few hours and see how he develops his craft; his love for songs and songwriting.”

Southpaw draws the listener in with Powell’s warm Georgia drawl with both high-octane Southern rock and beautifully rendered ballads.

Country fans are notoriously warm and welcoming of new and developing artists and the future looks bright for Mac. We’re not saying the gentleman doesn’t like his day job, let’s just say that his developing day job might be coming up close and will earn him legions of new fans.