Below is an autobiography of my good friend Justin Murphy and it is a great pleasure that he would share it with The Acoustic Strings. His story is inspiring and a testimony of his strong faith. If you ever get the chance to catch Live Past Life live you will not be disappointed as his passion for playing and God lights the stage.
I started playing guitar at age 13 after I begged my parents for one. They finally bought me a Squire Strat that I still have. I was a huge blues fan and I was going to be the next Stevie Ray Vaughn. In the early years, blues was all I learned and played but I also played guitar at my church. It was really neat to see how the older gospel songs and blues songs shared the same progression. Unfortunately, I quickly gave up guitar for a while when life set in. I got married and got a job. There was no time for it anymore… so I thought.
At age 24, I was asked to come to a fellow band mate’s church for a youth night. He was helping out with the youth at the time and wanted me to play a few songs for them. I quickly learned a few worship songs and was ready to play. It’s funny how God works. I was practicing a song when I heard a voice saying to me,” You need to get back to rocking the blues. This isn’t going to get you anywhere.” I knew I was under attack with the devil. And now I can see why. I never had written a song before that night, but I remember writing down this conversation I was having with the enemy. I began playing a blues riff again trying erase my thoughts. I never intended to write a song that night or even a Christian song for that matter but out came the song “I Will”. My life was changed forever. I eventually played the song for the youth group and saw how much of an impact it had on them. I thank God every day for bringing me to that moment and this was the beginning of Live Past Life.
One night we were playing a show at a church and I really felt God telling me to just worship with an acoustic guitar. I didn’t listen. I never wanted to be a worship band. During our sound check something bizarre happened. I was playing my electric guitar and then… wham! I was electrocuted pretty severely. I had 110 volts going through my body for about 45 seconds. This may have been one of the scariest moments in my life. I actually burned a hole in my finger from the string that went almost to the bone. It was my wake up call. I continued on with the show that night but with just an acoustic in hand and the experience was amazing. I wasn’t happy, but I knew God had something different in mind for me. This was a new beginning for me and a whole other way to play guitar. I never really played an acoustic before but I fell in love with it quickly.
I went back to my roots, combining the old gospel tunes and Mississippi blues songs that I used to love, while modernizing them to create a new style of acoustic worship. Though there is much more I need to learn, I look forward to see what God has planned for LPL’s sound in the future.
Brian Suman 