Скачать или смотреть Tough Crowd by Roger Blevins Jr. (feat. Ruthie Foster)[Live in Austin]

Heya friends! Roger Blevins Jr. here, and I'm SO happy to welcome you to The Tough Crowd Project! We are a nonprofit focused on raising funds for and awareness of organizations that provide financial aid, housing, transportation and other services to cancer patients, survivors and their families. We are still wading through the sea of red tape, but we're officially operating in the State ofTexas as a nonprofit corporation, the 501(c)(3) paperwork is filed and pending. And if you don't read anything beyond this, just know that a significant portion of the publishing proceeds for this song will go to The Tough Crowd Project. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING AND SHARING!!!!

As a touring and recording musician and singer, being diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2022 wasn't part of the plan. In July of 2024, after several surgeries, radiation, chemo and immunotherapy, the majority of my tongue was removed. Part of my neck was rebuilt. Surgical flaps were created from a foot-long incision in my leg. I laid in the ICU not knowing whether I'd ever talk again, let alone sing.

I was blessed and lucky to have an absolute brilliant team of healthcare professionals in my corner. Along with my wonderful wife, Val, we've had a rock solid network of support from friends, family, church and the amazing musical community my band and I have been a part of for decades.

And that support has helped me get to where I'm at now; recording this new song with some of my AMAZING musical friends from Austin. The PHENOMENAL, Grammy Award winning Ruthie Foster, members of my band, Mingo Fishtrap, and a stageful of wonderful and wonderfully talented humans were gracious enough to lend their time and talents.

I know first hand how a cancer diagnosis can change your life in an instant. How it can break down your body and your mental health. How it can devastate your finances. Even with good insurance, the costs can quickly become insurmountable.

The support of friends and fans has allowed us to focus on treatment and the fallout. It's allowed me the time to relearn to speak and sing with the new "equipment". It's allowed us to avoid many of the heartbreaking conversations so many families are forced to have. Choosing between financial ruin and their life. Families separated by hundreds of miles so a child can get care in one state while a parent works in another to maintain coverage.

These are conversations heard again and again in waiting rooms and hospital hallways.

This isn't a club anyone ever wants to be a part of. But when you get to know these people and their stories, you realize how much we're all connected. I've been so inspired by my fellows patients, survivors and friends we've had to say goodbye to along the way.

The Tough Crowd Project is for them. And for the fantastic nonprofit organizations, big and small, who are helping people every single day.

Please consider visiting us at www.thetoughcrowdproject.org and if you're in a position to donate, know that every cent matters.

Thank you and take care of one another!

rog

Roger Blevins Jr.
President, The Tough Crowd Project