 | | | Photos courtesy of Essential Records | |
A closer look at Matt Maher
Biggest musical influences: Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff , Harry Connick Jr., Sting, David Foster, Aaron Copland
Favorite songs: “The Load Out” and “Stay” by Jackson Browne; “Chet Baker’s Unsung Swan Song” by David Wilcox; “The One I Love” by David Gray; “Symphony No. 3” by Aaron Copland; “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas; “Baba O’Riley” by The Who
Favorite food: Singapore rice noodles
Favorite books: The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck; The Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn; Chuck Klosterman IV by Chuck Klosterman Favorite travel destination: “Anywhere along the Pacifi c Ocean”
Best advice he’s ever received: “If you want to write songs, go get your heart broken”
Best concert experience: Paul McCartney during the “Back in the U.S. Live 2002” tour |
"Everybody has a talent. I want to inspire people to use theirs for God"During his high school years in Newfoundland, Canada, Matt Maher embraced the music and tradition of his hometown — but was less enthusiastic about his Catholic faith. That changed, however, when Maher moved to Arizona at age 20 and, at the invitation of his cousin, became involved in his parish youth group and music ministry. Today Maher tours the United States as a Christian singer and songwriter, while remaining active in ministry at his home parish as well as at the Newman Center at Arizona State University. Maher recently talked with
Catholic Digest about his early struggles, his new album, and the spirituality of St. Paul.
CD: You had the opportunity to perform at the papal youth rally at St. Joseph Seminary in New York in April. Did you have a chance to speak with any of the young people who were present?MAHER: I spoke to a ton of different people. It was really moving for me because I kept running into all these seminarians who would come up to me and say, “You came to my parish and played at a concert.” I was amazed, first of all, that they even remembered, but also that somehow I was contributing — either through a CD of music that I’d recorded or hearing me live — to their vocation.
CD: It seems music has become a real vocation for you. When did you realize it was more than just a hobby? MAHER: Very early on. In second grade, I sang in the choir at Mass, and Ihad a friend whose voice blended so well with mine that it produced overtone, which is when notes that no one is singing will just start ringing out. It’s a mystical moment — like a very tiny window into what heaven must sound like. Music has always been my passion, but, especially since my conversion, it’s not my purpose in life anymore. Jesus Christ is my passion and my purpose.
CD: You’ve said that before you embraced your Catholic faith you made some bad decisions in college. What did you mean by that?MAHER: For me, it was drinking. My parents got divorced when I was 20, and my dad struggled with alcohol. He’s 13 years sober now, thank God, and he’s a hero to me. But, I think growing up with that, you can inherit all the great parts about your parents but you also inherit the things that they struggle with. But all those things are opportunities for grace.
CD: What helped you to get through that?MAHER: I think what caused the turnaround for me was being confronted with a series of life-changing moments all at once: I got my heart broken. My parents were getting separated. I’m a hemophiliac and I had to get tested for HIV (after receiving a potentially contaminated blood transfusion). I tested negative, but there was a two-week window where I didn’t know. During that period I was really questioning my life, and I felt something in me say, “If you don’t leave here you’re going to die.” It was more an interior death. So, I decided to make the move [to Arizona] with my mom. It was very apparent to me that it was God calling me, because within a week of moving I was going to church again, and by the end of the summer I was helping out with the youth ministry program. When the music minister heard me play piano, he made me start playing at Mass on Sunday nights and it kind of all went from there. I just had this moment of recognizing the hell I was in and then a willingness to surrender and say, “OK, I’m open.”
