Celebrating One Million People Served

When the staff at Musicians On Call realized they were approaching their one millionth patient served, they decided to reach out to Garth Brooks to see if he might help mark the milestone. Brooks was happy to do it.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore,” says Pete Griffin, President and CEO of Musicians On Call,” but you’re always just so shocked by the kindness and generosity people have.”

The patient that would take MOC to the one million mark was Marianna Mishik of Staten Island, New York. She’s 87 years old and a lifelong country music fan.

Brooks did a Zoom call with her that beamed directly into her hospital room.

“And he was typical Garth,” Griffin says. “He was so generous with his time, had a wonderful conversation with her, and couldn’t have been any more charming or anymore loving of her, her family, and her caregivers.”

After talking with Mishik and her daughter, Brooks played a couple of songs. (Since it was a special performance just for her, no video is available).

And then, something interesting happened.

“The woman was in the hospital because she’d suffered a fall and broken her leg,” Griffin explains. “Her adult daughter was with her and said, ‘You know, my mom is an incredible dancer. If she wasn’t in the hospital, she’d be dancing to you playing right now.”

So, Brooks said when she’s back on her feet, he wants to see her dance. And whether it’s virtual or in person, he promised to play for her again.

This is just one of hundreds of thousands of special moments Musicians On Call has helped make happen since the non-profit formed in 1999. The organization started in New York, but later moved to Nashville. It’s turned out to be the perfect location given the generosity of so many country music artists.

Griffin says the list of well-known singers and musicians who’ve volunteered to play for patients in children’s hospitals, adult facilities, VA hospitals, and even hospice care, is almost endless.

“Darius Rucker has done multiple programs with us. Not just in Nashville, but elsewhere. He did virtual programs with us during the pandemic and performed for us on Veterans Day.”

He goes on to add, “Reba has done a ton of programs with us, including visiting virtually with patients after the shooting in Las Vegas five years ago. And Luke Bryan helped us launch our music pharmacy program. That’s where we donate tablets and noise cancelling headphones so patients can listen to streaming music while they’re sitting in their beds.”

Not all who perform are major artists, many are singers and musicians in their own local communities who have a gift for music and a heart for sharing it. There’s a vast volunteer network that makes it work, and all are welcome.

But it’s funny how Nashville has its own way of doing things. Griffin says in some places even relatively unknown musicians might have a big group or team that travels with them for an in-person performance at a hospital. And then there’s a superstar like Keith Urban who operates on a much lower key level.

“I’ll be doing a program in Nashville and Keith Urban will be doing the visit. You know, one of the biggest artists in music of any genre, but especially in country music. And it’s like, well, he’s going to be driving himself, here’s his phone number, he’ll text you when he gets there. And then he shows up, I meet him outside, he steps out of his car with his guitar in hand and says ‘Alright, let’s go play for patients.’”

Griffin says it just illustrates the real human connection Nashville has when it comes to music.

“These huge, wildly successful artists really just love being out there with people and spreading the joy of music.”

During the pandemic, MOC stopped all in-person hospital visits due to COVID protocols, but was able to ramp up the number of virtual visits. Getting live music to patients struggling to get through a traumatic time became clearly more important than ever before.

“I can tell you the amount of emotion was like nothing we’d ever seen,” Griffin says. “We were performing in children’s hospitals for kids who were battling cancer and couldn’t even see both of their parents at the same time. Adult patients were dealing with the stress of whatever reason they were in the hospital, at the same time they had to cope with anxiety and loneliness because they had to be isolated and couldn’t have visitors.”

Today, Musicians On Call has a long waiting list of hospitals across the country that want to be part of the program, as well as non-music volunteers who want to help. (These are volunteers who accompany the musicians and serve as guides during hospital visits.) Efforts are underway to dramatically expand Musician On Calls’ reach by the end of 2022.

“We’ve been building a new digital platform that we’re going to launch at the end of the year,” Griffin says. “It’s going to allow any musician who wants to volunteer with us either virtually or in-person, to go virtually through the on-board training and become an official volunteer. In the same sense, any hospital or healthcare facility will be able to go through the checklist to become an official hospital partner of ours. And once those two groups are in this portal we’re creating, they will then be able to schedule their own in-person and virtual visits with each other.”

As Musicians On Call continues to look for ways to grow, there’s still much to celebrate at what’s been accomplished, so far.

“I don’t think I or any one of us can really wrap our head around the impact of this one millionth moment we’ve created,” Griffin says. “Yes, we’ve played for one million people, but we have no way of really calculating the impact it’s had. Those one million people, how did it impact the way they went about their lives or how they engaged with music or how they use music to help themselves and others going forward? I don’t think it even scratches the surface of the impact these musicians, these volunteers, and music has had on changing peoples’ lives.”

To donate, volunteer, or learn more about Musicians On Call visit

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