Worship Musician Magazine June 2021 | Page 29

who my parents believed in , what they believe and because they just lived it … they walked it . We did fun things here and there and all that , and we were together . And , you know , we weren ' t in our living room singing worship songs every night or anything like that . But my Dad was putting us to bed and praying sincerely to Jesus . I think hearing my Dad pray to God , like he ' s a friend of God , you know , every night before bed . That ' s probably the hugest impact when I really think about it . It ' s consistently hearing my Dad pray to God , not like he ' s filling a quota for what he ' s got to do . or getting through it fast . And my mom prayed !
[ WM ] What are your ‘ go-to ’ instruments these days ? Guitars ? Keyboards ?
[ Phil ] I ' m still playing my first acoustic guitar , my Taylor 414RCE . I got it when I turned 15 . On my last trip it got cracked and the top started peeling off the glue . And so we held it down with GAF tape and it still sounded awesome and stayed in tune . They ' re local San Diego friends and they ' re always helping me out . So , I love my Taylor 414RCE .
Keyboards ? You know , I use Logic to create my demos now . And my favorite key sounds currently , like natural piano sounds , are from a plugin called Keyscape . So with Keyscape , and some reverb and compression I ' m good to go to make demos .
I use a Manley Microphone almost exclusively on my new record . It ' s a little pricey , but I bought it because I knew it was going to be doing a lot from home .
And then there ' s a friend of mine now . He reached out to me years ago . His name is Stephen Ziegenfuss and he ' s a guitar maker from Michigan . He only makes a couple of guitars a year . And he reached out to me saying , “ I love your music . Can I make one guitar for you ? Get wherever you want ”. He ' s not super well known , but he made me such a beautiful guitar . And it is my favorite guitar to track in the studio with now . It ' s all over the new record . It ' s also on my acoustic Christmas record . And then I love my Gretsch guitars . I ' ve got a couple of Gretsch electrics that are what I go to when playing an electric guitar .
[ WM ] And lastly , how do you define impact as it pertains to your music ?
[ Phil ] I guess when my music aligns people ' s hearts with the heart of God … and creates a response in their spirits to want to worship Him .
[ WM ] Wow , Phil , once again , it ’ s always great to have a conversation with you ! Thanks so much for this time , and God be with you with your family during the upcoming schedule .
[ Phil ] Thanks so much , Alex . And great to talk to you . June 2021 Subscribe for Free ... 29