[ WM ] I ’ m 73 now , and so much of your opinions and perspectives change for the better .
[ Stephen ] It ’ s funny how that age now to me is like , “ That ’ s not that far . You ’ re young still .”
[ WM ] You know , the Lord has told me yes so many times in my Christian walk since 1969 that I have to assume that when He has said , “ No ”, it ’ s been for a pretty good reason .
[ Stephen ] And again , the other thing is God ’ s ways are not my ways . There are so many things . I thought I had a grasp on that . Now I ’ m like , “ Wow , I was missing that .” How many more and how much bigger will the things be when I get to eternity , and I look back ? So , I kind of try to be loose handed with it all right now .
[ WM ] I understand . I have a lot fewer nonnegotiables than I used to have . Let ’ s put it that way .
[ Stephen ] Isn ’ t that the truth ? They start going away .
[ WM ] They do . Yeah . It ’ s a lot more simple now . So let me finalize with your guitar of choice . Tell us about your favorite instruments . I believe you play , Bourgeois ?
[ Stephen ] A Bourgeois , yes . I ’ ve got two Touchstones . I ’ ve got an artist deal with them , and I absolutely love them . I am not just saying that . I put the LR Baggs Anthem mic in them and in all of my guitars . And so , I ’ m touring on this tour right now two Bourgeois Touchstones with dreadnought bodies . And I am playing with those . The mics blend so well . And I ’ ve been doing this , maybe not as long as you , but for 20 or more years . And we record every month in the studio . And it is the most recordable pickup I ’ ve ever used , which is really the litmus test for me .
That pickup and those guitars . Yeah , I ’ ve always been like , “ Okay , we got to mic it after the fact and make it sound nice .” But we ’ ve been using these things in the studio , and we ended up not overdubbing acoustics . They just sound so good .
[ WM ] Wow . Well , that says a lot right there . And what about keyboards ?
[ Stephen ] Well , the one that I use and travel with now is a Nord Stage 3 , 76 key . To be honest with you though , it has all the bells and whistles . All I ever end up doing is just going to the upright black piano and making it sound as much like an upright as I can every show . So , I kind of wonder why did I get this thing barely using it ? Many times I have a lot of gospel players that play with me when I ’ m touring . Just fantastic musicians . And the piano player who was playing with me right now on this tour , Gabriel Hatcher . I ’ m always like , “ Let ’ s just get away from the pad sounds and stuff .” It ’ s just really pure piano . You can hear a pin drop with acoustic guitar and just my voice . Let ’ s fill these arenas like that . So it ’ s been a lot of fun .
[ WM ] Well listen , I feel like we ’ re just scratching the surface here . Thank you so much for this time . God be with you and your family and your travels , and the Lord bless your single that ’ s just came out .
[ Stephen ] It ’ s my pleasure . Thank you Alex . I really enjoyed talking with you man .
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