Erik Hokkanen recovery fund.

Hello, my name is Vanessa Wawruszak, and I moved to Austin, TX from Australia after seeing Erik Hokkanen play one night back in 2013 during his 25-year residency at Flipnotics. Seeing him, Ryan Gould and JD Pendley made me realize 'this was the spot'.

Since Erik's arrival here in 1984, he has been a great inspiration, mentor, and friend to so many Austin musicians, from the young and budding to the well-seasoned veterans that have helped support Austin’s claim to “Live Music Capital of the World.” Erik has been considered one of the very best musicians in Austin for over three decades.

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We are sad to say that Erik fell terribly ill whilst on tour in Finland in late January. He was rushed to the hospital where he was placed in an induced coma. Over the course of five days, he underwent multiple operations and procedures to address his condition and to stabilize him.

Thankfully, he pulled through that first stage. Complications arose following the initial procedures, and if it weren't for the supervision of his capable medical team, he probably wouldn't have made it back to us.

It's all still very touch and go. The hospital staff are monitoring him in the hope of determining the cause, and the best approach to his rehabilitation. Currently, his team has suggested that he may be in a rehabilitative facility in Finland for a month, before he’s ready to travel home.

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If you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing Erik’s music and his fiery performances, you know it’s hard to summarize his honest to goodness genius in words (few or many). He is a musician’s musician. Whether he is “just” sitting in with a band or leading his own, his energy and command of his music inspires everyone on stage to bring their A-game (and find more than they knew they had in them).

Erik was voted a three-time winner of the Kerrville Folk Festival Music Awards' "Instrumentalist of the year" (1993-1995) and was inducted into the Kerrville Festival's Music Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1998, Erik returned to Helsinki where he was given a Professor of Music post at Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department. In 2009, Erik was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, and in 2024 he was nominated by the Austin Chronicle in the ‘Best Strings’ category.

For almost twenty years, Erik has been playing weekly with Frank Cavitt at Donns Depot and every month for the last few years at Radio Coffee and Beer on Menchaca. He held a legendary weekly residency at the old Austin gem, Flipnotics for decades until the venue’s closing in 2014.

Music performances have been his only source of income over the last thirty years. Sadly, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to return to his full-time commitment to Austin’s creative culture. All the while he’ll be saddled with hefty medical and rehabilitation bills along with the ever-growing cost of living here in central Texas.

We're asking and hoping that we can come together as a community to help Erik ease the overwhelming costs of his ongoing care and rehabilitation and to lighten his financial burden so he can rest and focus on full recovery. We want him to have the best chance of getting back to the joy he creates for himself and all those lucky enough to hear and feel his spirit shining through his great music.

We don't know the cost of his hospital stay yet, nor do we know what his recovery will look like, but I am setting the goal at the lower end of what we’ve estimated will be the cost of:

· his 2-week stay in hospital in Finland;

· approximately 1 month of rehabilitation in Finland to get him fit to travel home;

· flights back to the US; and

· hopefully outpatient (possibly inpatient) rehabilitation for the next year.

We will also be seeking assistance from local organizations, and we will update everyone as we know more.

Thank you for considering him and reading this, I'm sure with our support (financial and otherwise) he’ll feel the love that he needs to pull through this challenging time.