Christian band We The Kingdom ascend to arenas with Winter Jam tour

Her band is co-headlining Winter Jam for the very first time this year, but Franni Rae Cash Cain and the annual Christian music arena tour go way back.

When Cain was a kid, her father – Christian songwriter and producer Ed Cash – would take her backstage when the tour stopped in Nashville. They’d watch from the wings as giants like Jeremy Camp performed for crowds of thousands.

Today, Cain is the one in the spotlight – but her dad, and several other family members, are right alongside her.

She’s the frontwoman of We The Kingdom, a family band that also features her brother Martin and their uncle Scott (Ed’s brother), along with close friend Andrew Bergthold.

The band had a near-immediate breakthrough in 2019 with their second single, “Holy Water,” which has now inspired tens of millions of listeners to stomp and clap along with its southern-stewed groove and praise of God’s “forgiveness…like holy water on my skin.”

The result, and reception, kept the band on a hot streak through the making of their debut 2020 album.

“We just started writing songs after walking through a really difficult experience together, and those songs came so naturally,” Cain recalls.

“And then when the second album came around, it was, I think, the most difficult thing for the five of us up to this point.”

Don’t worry, there’s a happy ending: sophomore album ”We The Kingdom” bowed at No. 2 on Billboard’s Christian Albums chart last year. But before Cain and her bandmates could get there, they had to get out of their own heads.

“(We were) trying to find the right song, trying to overcome the fear of what people would think. We just had this feeling: ‘What if we can't make another ‘Holy Water?’ What if we can't reach the standard that we've set?’ …It was a lot of insecurity, honestly. And I think the whole process felt kind of like a battle in our minds just to try to get past that.”

Eventually, they laid out these insecurities to John Putnam – a mentor and life coach for the band and Cash family – and for Franni, the solution was clear.

“I felt like God convicted my heart, (and said), ‘You're not doing this for people. You're doing this to worship me.’ That’s helping take the pressure off.”

It also kept them open to inspiration, which is known to strike this band without warning. If Cain and her husband didn’t have a piano in their dining room, We The Kingdom might not have “God Is On The Throne.” Luckily, their friend Glynn Dollison sat down to play an invigorating gospel progression, and Cain was soon belting along.

Lead track “Left It In The Water” emerged during a soundcheck before a concert at the Ohio State Fair. It opens with a hypnotic, pulsing synthesizer that gives way to chugging electric guitar riffs, coming off like Christian rock’s answer to The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

But musical touchstones like those often fly over one half of the band or the other – recently, Cain discovered that her dad had never heard “Hey There Delilah,” a chart-topping hit for Plain White T’s in 2007.

Back in 2020, We The Kingdom was just getting off the ground (and on the road opening for Zach Williams) when the pandemic planted them back at home. This year, Winter Jam is letting them perform on the largest scale yet.

Cain’s favorite moment in the show when the band moves to a smaller stage in the center of the crowd to perform the ballad “The Light In You,” which they recorded with Bethel Music. As she sings, “I can see the light in you/ Even if it's dark to you,” a giant mirror ball illuminates the crowd.

“It's very unifying, and a really special moment,” she says.

The spirit extends backstage with their fellow artists. The band is co-headlining the tour with Jeremy Camp, the same artist Cain watched from Winter Jam’s wings years ago. Other performers include Anne Wilson, Andy Mineo, Disciple, Austin French, and festival founders NewSong.

“It feels like there's literally no pretension,” Cain says. “We all just love each other and are having so much fun. It's really refreshing.”

Winter Jam takes place Friday, February 3 at Bridgestone Arena. The show starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are $15 at the door.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Winter Jam co-headliner We The Kingdom rose to playing arenas