From an Appalachian County Line to the Philippines: Rick Hendrix's Songs Find a Global Audience

Manila, Phillipines - July 11, 2026 - Staff Writer: La Flora Desk

Washington DC. - Rick Hendrix never expected the songs he wrote in Appalachia to travel beyond the mountains where he grew up.

Raised in poverty, Hendrix said, “I never thought I'd even cross the county line," he said. "Now it's humbling to think that songs can cross oceans."

 Hendrix is a Broadway and Emmy-nominated producer with 12 x Gospel Music Association nominations for producer and songwriter of the year.

Hendrix spent decades behind some of entertainment's biggest successes like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, U2 and Queen. But despite a career that has included producing plays that receive Tony-nominations, writing multiple No. 1 songs, Hendrix says the accomplishment that means the most to him is one that can't be measured by awards, its helping people through music.

 Hendrix spent much of his career believing that helping people meant being there when they needed someone most. The veteran music executive says that instinct hasn't changed. What  changed, he says, is realizing that songs sometimes arrive where people cannot.

"If somebody's hurting in the middle of the night, I wish my phone would ring," Hendrix said in a recent interview. "I've always wanted to be there to help from my early days as a fireman and paramedic. But I've learned that God sends a song where I can't go."

His catalog is built around hope. Friends and colleagues describe Hendrix as someone who  always viewed songwriting less as entertainment than as a form of caregiving and he doesn’t follow commercial.

One of those songs, "When There's No Hope There Is Grace,"  drawn attention in the Philippines, where supporters have shared it widely as a message of comfort during times of loss.

 Following the death of former basketball player Rene "Bobet" Baterbonia, the song was chosen to be performed at his funeral service by the Sweet Echo Singers of La Flora Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Talacogon, Agusan del Sur. 

The song once again circulated among grieving fans and church communities as tributes poured in by the millions. 

Last year the song reached gold status with over a million plays on multiple platforms in the Philippines, and once by Intro Voices from Music of Hope. The growing reach of the song has also been noted in Philippine media. The Manila Times reported last year that the recording come to be regarded by many Filipino Christians as a National Christian Anthem because of its widespread use during times of tragedy, worship and remembrance.

While the song's reach surprised Hendrix, he says the goal was never recognition. "I've never written songs hoping to have a hit," he said. "I've always hoped somebody would hear one at exactly the moment they needed it, and I wrote them as my own cries to God."

Hendrix's career included advising the White House during President Biden, Obama and Bush administrations, while continuing developing artist and projects encouraging people facing difficult circumstances. Many of his compositions explore themes of faith during illness, loss, addiction, and personal hardship.

"When I was young, I thought the biggest journey I'd ever make was leaving my hometown," he said. "Now, to know that words written by a poor kid from Appalachia are comforting families on the other side of the world, that's something only God could write."

For a songwriter who once believed helping people meant showing up in person, Hendrix now believes music can sometimes become the messenger.

"The phone doesn't always ring," he said. "But maybe the song does."