Friends gather to raise funds for songwriter Joshua Ragsdale at Mercy Lounge on June 1.
He smiles a lot and seems a gentle fellow, but Joshua Ragsdale is a fighter.
For more than two years, the musician and Sony/ATV songwriter has battled leukemia, and both he and the leukemia are a little worse for the wear: The "getting better" process involves extensive, debilitating chemotherapy, so Ragsdale has had to essentially get worse to get better. The medical bills are nearly as daunting as the leukemia, and lately there's been brain cancer to beat as well (it's in remission, thanks to even more chemotherapy).
Tuesday, June 1 at Mercy Lounge (1 Cannery Row, 251‑3020), friends will gather to sing songs and raise money to aid Ragsdale as he prepares for a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant. Cledus T. Judd will host the 6 p.m. event, which features Randy Montana, Rivers Rutherford, Mallary Hope, Coldwater Jane, Jerry Flowers, Jeremy Spillman, Marcel, Leslie Satcher, Luke Laird, Brett Eldredge and some special guests.
For his part, Ragsdale is eager to fight some final rounds and then go help others stricken with cancer.
"Mark D. Sanders has been my mentor for songwriting, and he's taught me so much," Ragsdale said. "I've come to realize people need a cancer mentor in the same way I needed a writing mentor. You go from living life at 100 miles per hour to thinking, 'I'm going to die.' And it helps to have someone to talk to who's been through it."
Cover charge for the Mercy Lounge show is $10, payable at the door.
