This is Newisco Weekend. I'm Lisa Hale. He's Wisconsin-based, but Robert J.
tours the Midwest, sharing his original songs of family, friends, and life events, and
Mother's Day is extra special after he and his wife almost lost their son due to a rare
medical condition. I'll tell you when an organization known as Momma stepped into
hell. Here's Robert J. with Terry Barr.
I'll tell you when an organization known as Momma stepped into hell. Here's Robert J.
Barr.
A song of the year for musician Robert J. And Robert J joins me right now. Thank you, Robert.
Tell me about the song we just heard, the saddest march of all. That all came about because
COVID hit just as, you know, March madness was going to happen. And I'd like to follow
the Badger basketball. And then they closed the tournament down. They closed everything
down in the country and pretty much. I just said, well, this is kind of a sad march. It's
a little slice of what happened in our life. You are director of Momma Cares. And for
people who don't know, it is part of the Madison Area Music Association. What pulled you
in to get you involved in Momma Cares? Well, this all started the Christmas of 2014. My son
had a perfect Christmas. And then between Christmas and New Year's, he got very sick. And we
couldn't figure out what it was. They hospitalized him. And they realized he had a golf ball size
infection in his left-term pearl lobe and operated immediately. He was in the hospital for 17 days.
And he almost didn't make it. From that, I missed a lot of work. My wife missed a lot of work.
And we had had insurance, but at the same time, there's a lot out of pocket expenses going on.
Could all brick toy the co-founder and leader of the Mamas. And my good friend Chris Wagner
from the Moonjips, he's through a benefit for me at the high noon. And over 350 people showed up.
And from that, I just felt that it was necessary to pay it forward. So I recommended that we start
a program called Momma Cares to help other musicians in need. My son's doing great now. He's
survived. We're blessed to be in a city like Madison with world-class healthcare. Man, we're lucky
to be here. How did that feel to have all those people come out to help you, knowing that then
obviously you wanted to turn it around and try to help somebody else? It was a humbling, humbling
experience, you know? I still get teared up about it to have that kind of support. It's just
incredible. We make our money by having these little fundraisers. So what we've done is raise money
and every cent we raise, we give away to help fellow musicians in need or their families if they're
in a family crisis of some sort. We've raised and given out $109,000 so far. We help as we can,
you know, we can never pay somebody's entire monetary problems, but we pitch in as we can. I'm
proud that we've been able to help other musicians because how many times we've all been to events
or benefits for somebody in need, whether it's a musician or not, and who pitches in the bands.
We've all played for free. We've all played for the cause, and now we're asking for the community
to come together and help us raise money so we can help other musicians. Before I let you go,
we're going to end with another one of your award-winning songs. Tell us about this one, a beautiful
blur. I got that idea just because it seems like life is going by so fast. It's like a blur. We
have our ups and downs. We all have, you know, it's a blur and we just got to celebrate that and
enjoy it while we can. Find the goodness in everything and try to hold onto that. Speaking of
celebrating, congratulations on your newest grandbaby. Oh, thank you. As we end this, here is his
gorgeous song, a beautiful blur. Thank you, Robert J. Thank you, Terry Bar.
I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far. I caught myself confessing that the dance
boat in my car in the middle of the road, in the middle of the road.
I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far. I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far.
I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far. I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far.
I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far. I'm counting my blessings that I made it this far.
Thank you for being a part of Newisco Weekend and our look at Mother's Day. Newisco Weekend is
produced and written by Terry Bar and Lisa Hale. Our executive producer is Todd Michaels,
directed by Lisa Hale. Lead correspondent is Terry Bar with features from Brittany Merlot,
Peach Schwabba and commentator Amanda Nimmer. If you have a story you'd like to hear covered,
please feel free to email us anytime, lisa.hale at civicmedia.us. I'm civic media north-east
Wisconsin bureau chief Lisa Hale for WISS and WGBW News. Be unstoppable.
