Matt Pacco grew up in Corinth watching his father, Paul, play bass at Saratoga Abundant Life Church. Today he lives near Nashville, Tennessee with his family and plays lead guitar for the Rhett Walker Band.

Paul began teaching Matt guitar when he was seven. Paul is primarily a bass player. “I don't think he could live with himself if he didn't teach me bass,” Matt said. “I played bass for two years with Rhett Walker. I needed that gig. I'm grateful to my Dad.”

At 12 Matt filled in on bass when Paul wasn't available. At 16 he switched to electric guitar. “Worship music is challenging. It flows and shifts. You might stay on a bridge for five minutes or change songs on the fly. You play different styles. The important part is that you are leading people into Worship. It's different playing in a band. I have a show this weekend and I know what I will play from start to finish.”

Matt studied at SUNY Adirondack and was one elective short of graduating when he decided it was time to move on. His guitar instructor suggested Berklee College of Music in Boston. Matt passed the audition, but when he considered the cost, he got cold feet. “My parents could see I wasn't sure. They said I could wait. I had lost the fire to perform. I didn't want to be a teacher, which is ironic because I ended up teaching for several years.” Working at Stewart's Shops and playing in bar bands, Matt decided he needed a “real job.” He landed at Adirondack Trust Company and was offered an opportunity to start a career in banking. “I was sitting there in a suit and tie, clean shaven. They wanted to map out my next 30 years,” he said. “Something in me said no.”

Friend and drummer, Adam Meliski, had moved to Colorado Springs so Matt chose to go there. He wasn't going to take his guitars. “My parents convinced me to take them,” he recalls. “Adam flew out to drive with me. Driving through Kansas Adam gets a call from his church asking if he knows any electric guitar players. Adam answers, “I'm sitting next to one.” The following Sunday Matt played guitar at New Life Church. Matt feels God's hand in his life. “I would be wondering what I was going to do and this voice from inside would say, 'we'll figure it out.' It has been that way from the move to Colorado right up to now. I feel blessed.”

Soon Matt joined Desperation Band, touring two weeks at a time, and traveling the world. In 2013 he and Melissa married. The next year his school restructured, and he went from 40 students to10.  Producers he worked for moved and Desperation Band was cutting back. “It was time for a decision. I was in my 30s and if I was going to make it in music, I had to put myself out there.”

Matt and Mel decided they had to move to either Los Angeles or Nashville. They fell in love with Nashville and made the move. They were living off their savings when Matt answered an ad for a bass player and started playing local Nashville honky-tonks. A few months later Matt got an audition with Christian rock band, Finding Favor. During the audition he learned they were hitting the road the next day with 130 shows. Melissa told him to go for it, so Matt quit the country band.

Finding Favor ended in 2018 and their bass player joined the Rhett Walker Band. When he couldn't make a run of shows he asked Matt to fill in. Two years later the guitar player quit, and Rhett asked Matt to take over. “Playing with Rhett and the guys is a blast,” he said. “We are like brothers. The music and work -great, but the conversations and life we live together makes it special.”

Matt feels the calling on his life is to be a musician who carries the Gospel. “I've always felt my place is out with people,” he said. “I can share the Gospel with everyone, not just people in church.”