Anyone who’s ever listened to a pop song is far too familiar with the idea that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. But is the converse true? Do you not know what you need until you have it?
Todd Agnew, an artist who has long challenged listeners to ask better questions, has found at least some of his needs fulfilled as of late: the need for companionship, family, roots and direction.
But that doesn’t mean Todd finds himself in a place of creative complacency, either. Needs met in one area frequently point out deficiencies in others, and Agnew has never been one afraid of the microscope when it comes to looking at his own life.
“The perfect version of me still has a deep need for God,” Agnew says. “It’s the ongoing conversation we have with God: ‘you’re supposed to need me from the beginning. Need is not a bad thing; it’s something that ties this relationship together the correct way of me being God and you not.’ You really have to learn that and think ‘that’s what I was made, how I was designed.’ And that’s how this music was designed, as well.”
In short, Todd Agnew is taking care of his artistic need through NEED, his fourth album for Ardent Records/INO.
“It was a pretty big life change all of a sudden,” Todd says of his return to his home state of Texas, his recent marriage and becoming a stepfather. “I think I closed on my house on a Thursday and got married on a Saturday. I went from ‘single musician guy with no responsibilities’ to ‘homeowner, husband, father of two’ in 48 hours.”
For anyone, those kinds of changes could cause a whiplash effect. For a man with an admittedly critical artist’s eye, Todd’s new life opened up a brand new set of observations.
“It’s incredible, but it’s also definitely hard. There’s nothing that can prepare you for that kind of a life change, especially someone like me, who notices every detail of every failure on my part,” Todd says. “Being a husband is one thing, raising two kids is another. You can find yourself thinking, ‘Man, I didn’t do a very good job again today.’”
The presence of his wife and the kids has obviously served Todd’s need for balance in his personal life, but the veteran singer-songwriter has found an unexpected carryover into his professional existence as well. “I’ve always been kind of the hammer – walk in, speak the truth, blow up the town, walk off and let all the pastors apply that truth or pick up the pieces. Now I’m having very similar things in my marriage and in my life, where I’m definitely someone who sees the truth that needs to be spoken, but I’m watching my wife who always see the love that needs to be shared.”
