Minnesota Man With Autism Nominated For Prestigious Songwriting Award

RED WING, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Red Wing man is headed to Music City next month to find out if he's the winner of a prestigious songwriting award.

The Nashville Songwriters Association nominated Joe Bigalke for his song "Friend Above All."

Bigalke performed the song for WCCO Tuesday although he's not the singer on the track up for the award.

He sang and played the antique Steinway piano in the historic St. James Hotel.

"Ever since I was 2 years old, I've always been obsessed with the piano," Bigalke said. "When I was 15, I started really diving into songwriting."

Bigalke's inspiration for the song came from the cross on Christ Episcopal Church in Red Wing during a particularly beautiful sunset.

"My song is called 'Friend Above All,' because I feel like Jesus really is a friend above all," he said.

Bigalke says he's written countless songs and has heard his music on local radio.

Writing 'Friend Above All' over the course of eight months was different.

"I had the opportunity of working for a mentor who writes for Kelly Clarkson, so this was a really big, huge team project," Bigalke said.

Creating social connections in a group like that can be difficult for Joe. He was diagnosed with high-functioning autism in 2018.

"If I'm having trouble that day or happy or whatever, I can just play the piano and express my emotions and let my fingers do the talking," Bigalke said.

Sally Bigalke, Joe's mother, says music has helped him overcome the challenges of autism.

"It's very positive for him, and he has a lot of people that he works with, and everyone encourages him," she said.

Sally is very proud and can't wait to go to Nashville for the award ceremony.

"He enjoys it. He plays by ear," she said. "He doesn't have a lot of formal training, but he doesn't give up."

The singer on "Friend Above All" is a student at Universal Music Center in Red Wing, where Bigalke's also a student.

A teacher there did the production, and a musician in Los Angeles recorded the violin.