It all started with a sharp pain in his left arm that quickly turned into numbness and tingling in his pinky and ring finger. He did his best to stay calm, but that’s hard to do when a mystery injury threatens your livelihood.

Micah Wagner is an Austin-based musician who has both played and produced music for the last 13 years. To give you a feel for his taste in music — he considers himself a Pink Floyd “diehard,” and is influenced by artists like Nick Drake, Justin Vernon, Paul Simon, Dan Aurbacher, and Red House Painters.

Throughout his musical career, Micah has worked with artists like J.D. Souther, Dean Dillon, and Willie Nelson. He seeks to produce  “a sound that changes your life— that moment of euphoria and ‘what just happened to me?’ That inspires my music.”

This is the quest that Micah has committed his life to, and within one day, that all was in jeopardy.

Over the subsequent 5 years, Micah sought treatment from 2 neurologists, 5 different physical therapists, tried chiropractic treatment, acupuncture, a different diet, changed his exercise regimen — all to no avail. Micah describes his journey to a pain-free life as “very difficult — both physically and mentally draining, and ultimately too costly to maintain.” Eventually, he decided to take a break and accept that this injury may just be a part of his life moving forward. Unfortunately, while his pain had subsided a bit, it never fully went away — making both playing guitar and day to day life difficult.

Then, Micah was introduced to Dr. Alton Barron through the Health Alliance of Austin Musicians (HAAM) and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Michah was struggling with nerve damage due to extended compression and while recovering from such an injury isn’t a quick process, Micah has a bright outlook. Even on his worst day, his arm is 50% better 6 months after his procedure.

Micah had this to say regarding his experience with the Musician Treatment Foundation:

“It’s rather emotional, to look back on all of the failed attempts, ultimately relinquishing control and submitting to the idea that my injury may never be better, and I would just have to accept it as part of my life. And then seemingly out of nowhere to be introduced to Dr. Alton Barron and MTF, and within 3 weeks to have completed the surgery and be on the way to recovery. I still feel like it was a dream. Nothing works that smooth, quickly, or with such care. Nothing… Yet here I am, 6 months later with my arm in recovery and a such a deep, profound gratitude for Dr. Alton Barron and every person at MTF.”

It was a pleasure to work with Micah and we’re excited to share the recent projects he has been working on!

As an artist and producer, Micah has a number of projects that will be releasing over the next 12 months:

  • Niel Nasset’s 5th album “I Saw You In The Muck” is on its way. It captures Niel at the height of his writing and his carefully crafted ability to convey his message.
  • Kumu (AKA Dave Lovett), a colleague, friend, and co-writer/co-producer released his EP “Devil Dog” at the end of last year. Micah was proud to collaborate with him on many aspects of the project.
  • Micah also produced Jorge Gallegos album “Rainbows and Butterflies” which will be released in 2019 and shows what a wonderful songwriter, singer and artist Jorge is.

Micah will be releasing his second album, “Grounded,” which is a prequel in a sense to his album “7 Years, 6 Months Late.” The album will tell the story of the boy he was, and will be composed of 7 specific songs written during those formative years, but produced and played by the artist that he is today.


As a non-profit, we at the Musician Treatment Foundation are dedicated to the healthcare needs of professional musicians. We provide surgical and related care at no cost so that they can keep the music playing. This is only possible thanks to our donors! We will continue to share the stories of the musicians that your dollars are directly supporting.

If you are a musician in need, please contact us at info@mtfusa.org. If you would like to donate to our organization, please visit mtfusa.org/donate/.