Adam Agee is the newest lead singer of the Newsboys, but he isn’t new to them. Agee has been a frequent friend and collaborator of the award-winning Christian group for decades, which is why he was tapped to fill the role of lead singer when Michael Tait left earlier this year.
“I’ve known these guys for 20-plus years,” Agee tells Everything Nash. “We were on tour together back in ’07 on The GO Tour with my band Stellar Kart. And I’ve been on the road with them for the last ten years, in some form or fashion. So it’s been just a slow apprentice process that they finally let me into the band, but it’s been great.”
The invitation was unexpected, but welcome, in spite of the quick transition.
“I was super surprised when they asked me to join,” Agee acknowledges. “I never thought that they would do anything like that. And I was totally happy, I was doing some solo stuff, speaking on behalf of the tour sponsor, and just having a good time. Never in a million years thought they’d ask me to join. And then really never thought that I’d be singing just a little while later.”
The timing of Tait’s leaving seemed especially challenging at the time, since the Newsboys were getting ready to embark on their Worldwide Revival Tour. But Agee and Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips and Jeff Frankenstein, who together make up the Newsboys, vowed to move forward, emerging stronger than ever.
“When he stepped down, it was like four days before our tour started,” Agee recalls. “And so it was a shock, and we were just like, ‘What do we do? Do we even do these shows? What’s going on?’ And then we huddled together and talked about it a lot. We said, ‘Let’s move forward and see what happens.’ I’ve been singing forever, so the show part was not really that difficult. Obviously, Michael Tait is a force in our industry, so I’m never going to try to do what he does. That wouldn’t work. I’m just going to go out and be me, and I love Newsboys.
“I listened to them when I was young anyway,” he adds. “So I love everything that those guys do, and they’re all my friends. So we’re just going out there and playing music as bros, and we’re actually having a great time. The crowds have been so kind and so sweet, and they’ve just really rallied around us. Going out there and trying to be me, and doing it the way that I can do it, and see people like it … if they like it, then it’s going to be great.”
Agee credits both his fellow band members, and Newsboys’ loyal fans, with making the Worldwide Revival Tour so successful.
“At most of the shows honestly, it’s felt really nice,” Agee shares. “It’s really encouraging, and the crowds, they’ve shown up, and they’re having a great time.”
The Newsboys’ Worldwide Revival Tour is coming to Nashville on April 23, at Belmont’s Fisher Center. Agee admits it can be a bit intimidating to play a hometown show.
“You can go to Broadway and find a lot better musicians than me in Nashville,” Agee quips. “I think that’s why it’s a little daunting to play Nashville. We don’t play it very often. Maybe once a year. But it’s nice for our families to get to go see a show, and all the people we work with to get to go see it, and our neighbors. But that’s the fun part. It is definitely an ‘entertain me’ kind of crowd. … It’s always interesting to play your hometown. But Nashville is its own animal for sure.”
Newsboys have a new single, “How Many Times (Oh How You Love Me),” out now.
“It’s actually the first song that I wrote, when the guys invited me to be in the band,” Agee discloses. “We did this writing camp at Capitol, and I wrote with a couple of my good friends, Jonathan Gamble and Jordan Sapp. Great writers. It’s a song about my journey up to this point. About the highs and lows and different seasons of life. A lot of times, at least for me personally, I’ve had these times where there’s been more questions than answers, especially in my spiritual walk.
“It’s like, ‘God, just give me something. Give me something to go on, some kind of answer,'” he adds. “And this song is about those little moments that He’s given me of hindsight, saying, ‘You had to go through what you went through to get to where you’re at right now.'”
The Newsboys have a lengthy history of faith-based songs, refusing to water down their lyrics. It’s a mandate that has worked well for them, and one they refuse to back down from.
“There’s really no reason to dance around anything,” Agee explains. “The band’s name is Newsboys, and it’s been about bringing the gospel to people for 40 years. I think just lyrics based in scripture is what we’ve been all about since day one, and it’s also what I’ve been about as a writer, just on my own journey.”
Newsboys have a legacy that is incomparable in almost any genre, especially Christian music. The Grammy-nominated band has released 22 studio albums, with an astonishing 33 No. 1 hits. It’s an impressive — and rare within Christian music — but Agee hints their best days might still be ahead of them.
“I’m excited about this new season,” Agee says. “We’ve been trying to figure out what to do as a four-piece now, and how different that has been, and trying to get through this season of shows that were booked previously. And so now, we’re getting into that transition zone of, this is the new normal. This is what it’s going to be, and see what we can come up with as a band … I want to tell the old-school fans that we’re back, and give them a sense of the Newsboys they loved when they are a kid are back, and we’re rocking. But we’re also going to try to push the envelpe always, and make new music. I’m excited for what we can come up with.”
Tickets for the Newsboys’ Nashville show are available here. Find all of the Newsboys’ music and upcoming shows at Newsboys.com.
Photo Credit: Hannah Corwin