Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Country Music Meets Compassion: How Artists Are Making a Difference for Autism
Sun, 13 Apr 2025
Send us a textTony 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 artistsTell 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.comhttps://Facebook.com/tonymantorhttps://instagram.com/tonymantorhttps://twitter.com/tonymantorhttps://youtube.com/tonymantormusicintro/outro music bed written by T. WildWhy Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Chapter 1: Who is Tony Mantor and what is the purpose of this podcast?
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.
Chapter 2: What inspired Daryl Worley to support autism awareness?
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.
absolutely i think uh and you know we've mentioned cystic fibrosis and autism and there's a thousand other yeah things that yeah that people are and some some of them uh i mean i've just i've been close to uh people with uh muscular dystrophy and and ms and yeah uh it goes on and on and and and
You know, to be perfectly honest with you, none of this stuff we're talking about is for the faint of heart. It's a difficult thing to deal with. And in some instances, some are not as bad as others. But it's still a challenge for every person that's involved. And so, you know, whatever we can do to help, at the end of the day, that's why we're put here is to love one another and to help out.
Exactly.
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Chapter 3: How has Daryl Worley's music career helped his charitable efforts?
Well, I just feel like people have always even made jokes about... They used to call me Benefit Daryl because I would just do anybody's benefit that came along. And growing up in music, people used you like that a lot. They'd say, hey, can you guys come out? Which I'm not saying in a bad way. I'm saying we were thankful to be used in that way. And...
And then I got to a different level and started doing this on a national scale. And, you know, all of a sudden I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is bigger than I ever dreamed it could be with my career and stuff. And the first thing that occurred to me is, man, I'm really going to be able to help people now.
Yeah, you know, that was going to be my next question for you. Is this one thing when you're when you're doing bars and clubs and across the country, but then when you elevate yourself with hit records and get to the point of where you can go out and do concerts, then all of a sudden your platform can help so many people just by using your voice, by just telling people you need to help people.
Yeah, I mean, we do that in a lot of different ways. I have my own foundation. The Darryl Worley Foundation is alive, well, and active. Oh, nice. We are really, really making a difference in our region, which would be like West Tennessee, North Mississippi, North Alabama. All there. But we help people all over the country. Yeah. And, oh, it has really grown. That's great.
And we've been so blessed. Yeah.
And we, you know, we look for other smaller startups that we know are doing good work, and we try to donate to them and help them. Nice. you know, figure it out because we went through a lot of time when it was not easy. Those first few years, I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to wind up being in debt. Yeah.
So it's a whole different world when you get into helping people like that, because, because people don't understand the challenges that you have to go through in order to help. Yeah.
Well, and the bottom line is you've just got to come up with free money somehow. Yeah. And when you say free money, people go, what is that exactly? And I say, well, where are you giving me money to help people? Yeah, exactly. So for us, it's free money. For those people, it's free money, but it doesn't come free. There's a lot of work that goes into it, but every bit of it's worth it.
It's probably, you know, I look back on it all, and I think, My travels to the war zones and entertaining our troops and doing all that stuff, that's going to be huge and on the highlight reel. But leaving the foundation behind, it's a work that will continue long after I'm gone. I know it will because good people are involved. Good people want to be involved in things like that.
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Chapter 4: What challenges does Daryl Worley face in fundraising for his foundation?
And I think we're about to start...
uh maybe getting some sponsors on the corporate level oh nice that'll be huge for us yeah and then the good news is is we'll do the right thing with it yeah you know um it's the one great thing about about doing this is like like when i'm when i'm doing when i'm in the studio doing production work and everything i finish it up i feel good that oh man this is good but when i finish an episode on my podcast and i'm talking with autistic people and the challenges and i finish it editing it feels like i've accomplished something
Oh, yeah. Well, that's because you're helping somebody. I can sit here and harp on it all day long, but I'm a spiritual person, and I'm a born-again Christian. I love Jesus Christ. I don't preach to people. That was my daddy's job. He's really good at it, but I said, I don't think that's going to work for me. Right.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that my convictions in this area are very, very strong. But that's how each of us was designed, whether we know it or not yet. You may not know it yet, but that's how you were designed. And you won't feel real accomplishment. You won't feel real effectiveness in your life until you've
done at helping someone else yeah that you didn't have to help exactly someone that that you just thought that person needs help i'm going to step in yeah whether it be stopping on the side of the road and helping some old lady that's changing a tire i don't care what it is those acts of kindness yes and acts that you do out of your heart that you do not have that's the good stuff
Absolutely.
And that's what kind of, my mother always said, those are the things that put the silver lining on the clouds.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I tell you, I really appreciate you coming on. I'm looking forward to your show tonight. Thank you, man. And I'll have to get you back on my real podcast.
Yeah, I'll get you to come talk about autism on my podcast. Yeah, I'd love to. It's called Sounds Like Life with Daryl Worley. You'll love it, man. Oh, I love it.
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Chapter 5: What motivates Daryl Worley’s commitment to helping others?
Chapter 6: How does Tony Mantor view the impact of storytelling on autism awareness?
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that my convictions in this area are very, very strong. But that's how each of us was designed, whether we know it or not yet. You may not know it yet, but that's how you were designed. And you won't feel real accomplishment. You won't feel real effectiveness in your life until you've
done at helping someone else yeah that you didn't have to help exactly someone that that you just thought that person needs help i'm going to step in yeah whether it be stopping on the side of the road and helping some old lady that's changing a tire i don't care what it is those acts of kindness yes and acts that you do out of your heart that you do not have that's the good stuff
Absolutely.
And that's what kind of, my mother always said, those are the things that put the silver lining on the clouds.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I tell you, I really appreciate you coming on. I'm looking forward to your show tonight. Thank you, man. And I'll have to get you back on my real podcast.
Yeah, I'll get you to come talk about autism on my podcast. Yeah, I'd love to. It's called Sounds Like Life with Daryl Worley. You'll love it, man. Oh, I love it.
Yeah. All right. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Okay, we're here with Dylan Massengale. Thanks for coming on.
Thank you so much for having me.
So, tell me a little bit about your story and how you came to be doing this show tonight.
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Chapter 7: What are the future plans for Daryl Worley’s foundation?
Okay. What made you decide to move to Nashville?
Well, I actually, I mean, I come to visit Nashville. Okay. I actually am currently living in Branson, Missouri. Okay. Sure. But I actually come to Nashville about once or twice a year.
Okay.
And I've been a part of this great cause of this show. I was a part of it the first one last year. Oh, nice. At the Troubadour Nashville. And I was nominated last year for the Josie Music Awards. It's held in Tennessee. That's held at the Grand Ole Opry. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, I make a lot of trips to Nashville, and it's good to see a lot of great friends out here.
Yeah. So now what are you doing musically?
Well, musically, I'm a bass player. I get to play bass. And the rest of my family, I mean, I could play guitar, but it's not really, really good. Okay. I mean, my brother, he's a drummer himself. Nice. And my dad, he is a fiddle player. Okay. And my mom is a singer and a fiddle player and acoustic guitar player as well. Okay.
That's all in the family.
I grew up in a musical family. My dad actually has been in this business now going on for 45 years. And that was our mountain country there in Branson. He actually started a show, what was the third founding show in Branson called the Plummer Family Country Visit Show. That was found.
And then after that, he made the move and he got to tour five years and even got to spend his time here in Nashville with the late, great Mr. Roy Clark from out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. and played the Grand Ole Opry and played the last three seasons of Hee Haw.
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Chapter 8: Who is the next guest introduced on the podcast?
Okay.
And she actually – Made the move to Branson about, I would say, about early 1990, I think, at the time. And she made the move, and she worked with a group called the Texas Gold Miners. Okay. We're Texas, and they made the move to Prince, and they did a show. Then after that, she worked with different names. She worked with names like Barbara Fairchild, Mickey Gilley.
She worked with the late great Mr. Joe Diffie as well. And she's been a part of so many different shows, including... A guy that's actually written some songs for the late great Mr. George Jones by the name of Mr. Billy Yates that she's worked with. But my brother, on the other hand, he has actually worked with a bunch of different artists.
He has worked with the names like Mark Wills, Ronna Vincent, Jeannie Seeley, Mo Bandy, just to name a few. And he's been playing drums professionally at the age of 14 years old, and now he's 24 years old. Okay. And he has – he recently was just awarded from the Terry Music Awards there in Missouri for 2020 Forge Rover of the Year last year.
And I couldn't ask a more talented – I mean, I'm so blessed to be with my family to be where I'm at. That's great.
So how many songs are you doing tonight?
I am doing two songs tonight. Okay. All right. Your own songs? I'm actually doing some covers tonight. Oh, okay. I'm actually pulling out a Buck Owens song, but my favorite artists who ever did it, but they actually did a CD release party here years ago, and he played here many times, was the late great. Daryl Singletary. Oh, yeah.
Daryl Singletary, he did Love Is Gonna Live Here, and then I'm on to another cunt. What he did, but it was a cover, but it was called I Never Go Around Mirrors Tonight.
Yeah, and that's great. Well, good. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do, and... We're going to have to get you on to my normal podcast and get a full episode in for you.
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