That is cool that your brother played the piano for your wife to walk in to! Nice! We exited to mariachis - thanks to my time doing mission work in Mexico. :) They also played at our reception. It was a lot of fun...11 years ago! :)
I think it is really interesting that a lot of modern praise has some of the same lyrics as older hymns. And some of the hymn writers do have amazing stories. I have a book with some of their stories in my library. Need to read through it sometime!
I have heard of Matt Maher, I'll have to check out the link. That's cool that you play in a worship band! Have a good one!