Hey there, I’m Melanie Bobbett, lead navigator for the JWF Musician Health & Services Program. Now that I’ve been with the organization for 11 years, it seems like a good time to introduce myself and share a bit about how I got here!

Young Melanie having a music festival moment

By Melanie Bobbett

First of all – music. I don’t really know where to begin talking about how much it means to me. Lately, I think about the constant connective and formative force music has been throughout my life: being a little kid in a Deadhead family; the classic rock radio soundtrack of every truck ride with my dad; following my sister into rotating deep dives on The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and The Doors; my mom sitting me down to watch The Last Waltz for the first time. And as a teenager of the 90s, how much MTV impacted those formative music years. I was in complete awe of the 90s rock explosion reaching me through Beavis and Butt-Head and 120 Minutes, where I found many of my favorite bands. From my upstate NY living room, I knew that something important was happening out there, and this inspired my ongoing fascination with how the right combination of people, places, and time produce musical and cultural shifts like that.

Melanie loves the beach, and The Beatles

Seeing live music naturally became my #1 outing as an adult, which worked out great when I moved to Portland. It makes perfect sense that I discovered JWF from the audience at The Next Waltz and started volunteering for the organization not long afterward! I also love listening to our amazing local radio shows for deep cuts that I’d never find on my own, and finding YouTube gems of my favorite themes, such as: unexpected on-stage collaborations; epic live performances of very produced 80s hits that I couldn’t picture outside of a studio; and the one that makes me so happy that I’ve actually cried– bands sharing the stage with their musical heroes (see R.E.M. with Neil Young for “Ambulance Blues”).

My career as a social worker in health care is the other part of how I got to JWF. That seed was planted when I was in grad school during the lead-up to the Affordable Care Act. I became hooked on C-SPAN (for life) watching Congress debate the ACA, and was interning at my U.S. congressman’s office where I took constituent calls all over the spectrum about it. I was really impacted by seeing the universal issue of affordable health care being so politicized, which fueled my interest in helping people access health coverage and care– things that everyone needs regardless of their politics.

For 12 years, I worked for one of Oregon’s major hospital and clinic systems supporting patients through various challenges in their care, including the pervasively toxic financial and insurance burdens of receiving health care in the United States. While I truly loved helping people navigate these things that no one should have to endure, it became increasingly demoralizing to be working within the systemic problems. So I eventually left, which allowed me to dedicate my profession to JWF and its mission. I’m constantly grateful to have found this way to directly give back to those who make music– the steady source of personal joy, wonder, and connection throughout my life.

Through my JWF work over the years, I’ve realized the chronic challenges in the music industry that aren’t seen on the surface, or from the audience, but are at the core of why musicians are so quickly destabilized by even a minor health issue, and why JWF exists as their safety net. I see the precarity caused by lack of guaranteed fair pay, the vulnerabilities of being self-employed in an often exploitative environment, and how these struggles have direct impacts on health and wellbeing. I see the misalignment in how much musicians give which benefits so many others personally, culturally, and economically, yet their basic wellness and stability are not adequately invested in by our society in return.

Melanie's latest kid face painting session

I’m hopeful for change in that, as there is at least growing attention and response to health issues in the music industry. I’m proud of JWF’s part in that momentum through our efforts to more proactively support health and wellness in our music community, and the partnerships we’re developing with other local organizations to take that even further. Stay tuned to find out more about that! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy some music soon in whatever way brings you joy, connection, or anything else that it means to you.

Keep an eye out for Melanie’s upcoming section of the newsletter, Melanie’s Monthly Update, to keep up to date on the Musician Health & Services Program, and its impact on local musicians and music industry workers.

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Meet Melanie

Musicians healing musicians