Third Day to Disband After Farewell Tour: Exclusive

“It’s great that we get a chance to close the chapter in our own timing and in our own way. Nobody is mad at each other,” he says. “We’re still friends and still buds. We’re riding off into the sunset in a good way.”

Powell says the band’s achievements exceeded their expectations. “We never thought we were going to be a band this long. It’s kind of crazy. Time flies by,” he says. “We used to just think, ‘Man, if we could make a couple records, how awesome would that be?’ Now here we are 25 plus years later. There’s been a lot of great experiences. Looking back on it, we’re very grateful for what we’ve been given and very thankful for our fans. That’s why we’re doing this [farewell tour] is to say ‘thank you’ one more time to our fans.”

In addition to performing their hits, the final tour will also feature Lee sharing new music and stories from his critically acclaimed autobiography, Hurt Road, which released last year. Worship leader Matt Maher will be a special guest on the tour, and other guests will be featured in different markets.

“We wanted to go out and do enough cities that would reach around the U.S. to where if someone wanted to get to us, they could,” Powell says of the routing for the farewell tour, which will include stops at Atlanta’s Fox Theater, L.A.’s Citizens Business Bank Arena, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, MI and the Beacon Theater in New York. Special pre-sale VIP fan experience packages will be available starting March 7. General tickets will be available on March 9.

Following Third Day’s retirement, Powell will continue making music with his band Mac Powell and the Family Reunion. In recent years, the gritty-voiced rocker has pursued a side career in country music, releasing two independent albums and touring solo as well as doing shows with country traditionalist Craig Morgan. “I’ve got a bunch of great people with me,” says Powell, who plans to drop two new albums later this year, including a Christmas record. “[Multi-instrumentalist] Jason Hoard is still playing with me, and we’re just out there making music that we love. If we love it, hopefully other people will love it too. It’s a little bit of everything -- a little rock, a bit of gospel and a little bit of country all mixed together. It’s a lot of fun and it’s given me a chance as a writer to explore new and different territory I haven’t had a chance to do with Third Day.”