Over the past two years, rising country artist Alex Hall has been given the chance to play music for hospital patients as part of the Musicians on Call program. But up to this point, these meetings were always virtual due to the ongoing pandemic.
That is, until now.
"Just having the energy in the room with each other felt different," Hall, 28, tells PEOPLE following a recent visit with a few select patients at the Nashville VA Medical Center. "In every room that I sang in, it was just myself and the patient."
And he still can't forget one of those patients.
"He had been in there on and off for 21 months," the Georgia native remembers. "He was just sitting there in a room by himself."
But then, the older man began searching for a bag in his room, and it was this bag that would contain a pair of drumsticks.
"All of a sudden, I was singing, and he was drumming along," remembers Hall, who concluded his visit with a rendition of Elvis Presley's holiday classic "Blue Christmas." "He had so much joy. Just to be able to play some music with him was so cool. He said that he played on Broadway back in the day a few times." He pauses. "And now, he's in a hospital bed."
And in an instant, the entire purpose of Musicians on Call could be felt in that somewhat dreary hospital room.
"Just to get some one-on-one time with another person was worthwhile," reflects Hall of the Musicians on Call program that first began in 1999 and has partnered in the past with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton and Kelly Clarkson. "I did some Christmas songs and some non-Christmas songs, and then some folks just wanted to hear some regular country music songs. To be able to do that in person for them where they're stuck in a hospital room, some of which don't even have a window in it…"
His voice trails off before finishing his thought.
"I think Musicians on Call is just a great organization to bring music to people who may need healing from it," says Hall of the nonprofit that delivers live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients, families, and caregivers in a variety of healthcare environments via the help of the American Heart Association. "It's so important just to have some human interaction that doesn't involve their sickness or their surgery or whatever it is. They're able to talk about themselves and to talk about music and just have a few minutes of distraction from everything they have going on."
On top of select in-person visits over this holiday season, Musicians on Call also provided patients access to the Hope for the Holidays Presented by Citi virtual concert which included performances by artists such as Meghan Trainor, Little Big Town and Jimmie Allen.
No matter virtual or in-person, Hall says that working with Musicians on Call will continue to be something he is committed to doing throughout the entirety of his career.
"My grandfather served for 18 months in Vietnam as an Airborne Ranger, and quite a few of the folks that I saw that day were Vietnam vets," concludes Hall, who is currently back in the studio recording his next project. "One of them was in the Army and was there about the same time my grandpa was. Just the fact that I had a conversation with a guy that somehow could have crossed paths with him was powerful for me."
