Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ?
Country Music Meets Compassion: How Artists Are Making a Difference for Autism
13 Apr 2025
Send us a text Tony Mantor hosts a special remote podcast from Nashville Palace supporting "An Acoustic Evening for Autism." Country music artists Daryl Worley and Dillon Massengale share their personal connections to autism awareness and how music has become a platform for making a difference. • Daryl Worley explains how friends with an autistic child inspired his commitment to the cause • Worley discusses establishing his foundation and the challenges of fundraising for charitable causes • Finding purpose through helping others becomes a central theme of Worley's career journey • Dillon Massengale shares his story of being diagnosed with high-functioning autism at age four • Despite doctors' predictions of limitations, Dillon became a professional musician • Dillon credits his success to proper treatment, family support, and his faith • Comes from a musical family with deep roots in Branson, Missouri • Has performed at the Grand Ole Opry and worked with notable country music artists Tell everyone everywhere about Why Not Me? The World, the conversations we're having and the inspiration our guests give to everyone everywhere that you are not alone in this world. https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Full Episode
Welcome to Why Not Me? The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Real-life people who will inspire, inspire, and show that you are not alone in this world.
Hopefully, you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor, and welcome to today's episode of Why Not Me? The World. We're recording live at the Nashville Palace for a special remote podcast, unscripted, unedited, and full of heart. Tonight's episode supports an acoustic evening for autism, a show happening right here this evening.
We're thrilled to bring you this country experience, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we're enjoying sharing it with you. We've got two fantastic guests joining us tonight. This is week number two out of three that I'll be featuring two guests per episode to dive into everything we're covering right here tonight. Thanks for tuning in. Okay, I'm here with Daryl Worley. Thanks for coming on.
Man, yeah, I'm glad to be on here and to hear all the good work you're doing. That's awesome.
Well, I appreciate it. So we're here at the Nashville Palace, and we're going to do a concert tonight for autism. What led you to be part of this?
Oh, years ago, we had a couple of friends, and they had a child that was born autistic. And that kind of started the whole thing for me. So anything that came along, not too long after that, I wound up doing this show down on Broadway every year at – one of the bars down there and we would have this big benefit show and bring in all kinds of artists and songwriters for cystic fibrosis.
Oh, okay.
And because we had a family member who died with that disease and so it was always close to our hearts and I did that for years and I thought to myself, you know, because we had seen how other lives were affected by autism that If I ever had a chance to do something along those lines, that I would jump right in there, and that's how this started. So I think I've been doing this for several years.
Well, that's great. You know, we are unfortunately a country of if it doesn't affect our family, we don't get involved. And learning about autism and how it affects people, it's something that needs to get out there for people to learn and understand that it's something that we all need to help.
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