Matt & Sherry McPherson Interview Who are Matt & Sherry McPherson?
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L> I remember the first time I saw an ad for a McPherson guitar at GMA a couple of years ago, and I thought it was very strange because of the position of the sound hole. Now I want one! Your guitar is very recognizable. Has that been a good thing or a bad thing? M> At first it was bad thing because it was so different, but I kept telling everyone that it would eventually turn into the reason everyone wanted one. S> We have people tell us all the time that they can tell it’s one of our guitars just from hearing it on a CD. M> Many times I’ve listened to an album and I’ve said, “That’s one of my guitars,” and I look at the credits and it is. It’s just got a different sound. A ring thing. L> It’s a very live sound! M> People say that this is like the grand piano of guitars. It’s got a lot of what I call “Shing.” L> What were you doing, when all of the sudden you decided to craft an instrument? S> His Dad was acting cooky. M> Well, in the 70’s I actually saw a Japanese man impersonating Johnny Cash on the Johnny Carson Show. L> That’s a great opener, I’m very excited to hear THIS story!
In the 90’s I had an archery company which is what kind of powers all the other adventures. I really felt God unctioning that I get back into designing the guitar. I looked at every aspect of the guitar. I bought several four or five thousand dollar guitars and cut them up! I needed to study the inside. I looked at what had been done and took a different direction. Because I was an archery engineer and I understood composites, wood and metallurgy all the things that apply to engineering. I thought, “I’m a guitar player and an engineer, why don’t I apply that?” So, I took that approach. I designed a couple of hundred prototypes and had them built before I got something I was happy with. S> That took diligence and patience. It wasn’t a rushed thing. M>We didn’t sell one until 2002. It was years of building guitars and learning. L> SO, you’re just on the edge of the sociabilities with this company. M> Now we’ve got people who play the best guitars in the world, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Paul Overstreet, Steven Curtis Chapman, Carrie Underwood, Paul Baloche, 4Him, Lenny Leblanc and the list goes on. If you play a piano that’s clunky, you don’t want to play or practice very long, but if you play a grand piano that beautifully tuned and sustains wonderfully you want to play it all day long. That’s like our guitars. You get more out of it than you put in. It’s kind of like running in sand. If all your life you’ve run in sand and all of the sudden someone puts you on pavement and says “Run” you feel like you’re getting more out of it than you’re putting in because you’re used to running in sand. Now, there are some great guitars out there, I want to make that very clear. The difference is ours is just build completely different, so it sounds different. I collect guitars and I love Taylors and Martins. L> I have a Martin! S> Yeah! M> That’s great! We’re just saying if you want something that’s super hi-fi, rich and very balanced it’s our guitar. A lot of hit albums are recorded using our guitars. L> It’s quite an amazing story of how God has equipped you each step of the way even financially to accomplish these things. S> We didn’t know it was gonna take 20 years to get here. I was working as a worship leader in our local church, and it was very difficult. We met and traveled with and evangelist for a year and we saw hundreds of people come to Christ, and that birthed in us a real passion for evangelism and for winning souls. We went through seasons of “Is this ever going to happen? “ But we had to be patient for God’s timing when we couldn’t see further than tomorrow. We had to trust that He had a plan. He allowed us to have the desire of going out and doing concerts and hearing other people sing our music. Was it just to pain us or was it because there would be a time? L> Was there a specific opportunity or did you just finally know it was the time to step out?
M> We knew it was the time! The Lord spoke to us that we were supposed to start businesses first, so we did that and now we’re in this position of being able to do music ministry. What’s really neat is that we aren’t bound by having to do what’s “popular.” We are just really into what God would have us to do. If it’s not necessarily what the world would consider marketable, it’s alright. We’re not dependent upon that.
M> Of course the most exciting thing is the Salvation Poem. L> I was going to ask you about that. Now, Franklin Graham is printing it on pens and handing them out at his crusades? M> Yes, well it’s quite a bit more than that. It’s extremely exciting. It’s also being produced into a musical right now by Stephen V. Taylor. At the end of the musical there will an invitation to accept Christ. It’s been translated into 15 different languages around the world, it’s being printed on more than 30 million pieces of literature as we speak. It’s being put into booklet form for children’s books and a comic book form for teens. S> We’re calling it the “Salvation poem project.” L> Are these your ideas or are people coming to you with these? M> Well Both. A friend of mine put them on pens. I just placed an order for a million pens. We want people to be able to buy like a hundred pens for ten dollars and use them as ministry tools. You leave one at the bank when you make a deposit or at the grocery store when you write a check, and other people pick it up. We just pray that God will expand this poem. It’s based on this thought. I bet you can finish this poem…Mary had a little …. L> Lamb! M> Right. No one has not known the answer to that question. Yet does it have any eternal value or significance to your life? What if we could teach the world a poem that they would never forget that was significant? It’s a powerful tool and we are excited that God had entrusted it to us, and we’re gonna try not to get in the way. L> It’s extremely exciting and moving to hear all of this. It’s one of those things that you wonder “why didn’t someone think of this before?” S> Exactly! L> But that’s how you know it’s the timing of God! S> For such a time as this. M> So, it’s not just a poem it’s a song. We have a website that’s thesalvationpoem.com. Which will be on all the pens. Let’s say we give them out to college students, when they’re bored they’re gonna read it over an over again and they might get on the website where they can find out how to accept Christ and a lot of other information. That song is on our new album. L> Is the album themed around that song? S> No. It’s actually one of the last songs.
M> “My Love,” my love song to my wife L> That’s a great answer. S> Thank you honey! L> He gets extra points for that one. L> As a songwriter, I like to ask how the process works for you. Do you write together? S> We didn’t for a lot of years, but we do now. M> Sherry gets the words as she’s playing, were as I get the melody first. S> In fact he’s come up with some tunes, that I’ve written lyrics to. L> Sherry, do you play guitar? S> A little. M> She’s classically trained on the piano. L> Wow! Well I thought you would have to play the guitar because of your business. S> I’m more of a pianist. M> She’s building pianos now though. No, I’m kidding! L> I wouldn’t put it past the two of you! Maybe a round piano! S> A round piano?! HAHA L> Well I walk out here inspired today because of the example of your lives. Thank you for all you’re doing. I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more than music from the two of you! More information on McPherson Guitars can be found at http://www.mcphersonguitars.com To find out more about Matt & Sherry McPherson’s ministry, visit http://www.mattandsherrymcpherson.com
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M> LOL Well, the man was actually very good. Obviously, he was on the Johnny Carson show. Johnny Carson interviewed him and the guy mentioned that he had built his guitar! I thought that was really cool, and kind of said to myself, “I wanna build guitars!” I got a call from my Mom around 1980 and she said, “Your father has lost his mind!” I asked what he was doing and my mom told me that my Dad had started buying cheap guitars plugging the sound hole up and cutting holes all over the body of the guitar. Then he throws it away and buys another one. I asked my Dad what he was doing, and he told me he just knew there was a better way to make a guitar, I just feel it, he said. He came up with a 3 sound hole guitar, and he went to Japan and had some made, but they never really took off. They were kind of thin sounding. So, my Dad got discouraged and I took the company.
L> Are there any other songs you feel strongly about on the album?
