ROCKFORD (WIFR) --This story we learned about from one of our Facebook followers, Frank Calvagna: a local musician is making headlines with his song about homeless war veterans. International star singer songwriter Neil Young is helping launch music careers while promoting world peace.

Neil Young has made history with his songs promoting world peace and encourages musicians to do the same

Singer Songwriter Ron Rawhoof said, "I wrote this song 'Too Much to Lose', and I have a friend, he's an Iraqi vet, twice. And this song is about homeless vets, and I thought maybe he would like it. And he suggested that I put this on the Neil Young website, at least submit it."

Rawhoof's song "Too Much to Lose" is competing against over 3,400 other songs.

Rawhoof said, "Originally when Neil Young started this, he wanted to have a platform for protests on the war, or any related subjects. You know I just watched it climb, and yesterday it hit number one and I'm pretty excited about!"

The Rockford Musician has been playing the guitar for forty years, song writing for ten, and has had personal ties to veterans his entire life.

Rawhoof said, "My father served in Korea. My uncle served in Vietnam a couple times. And where I work, I see vets on a regular basis, and I just wanted to write a song about some of the songs vets deal with."

Rawhoof hopes it will bring about awareness and maybe an established music career.

He said, "I'd like to see something come out of this, maybe be able to get gigs out of town, out of the region maybe."

The contest doesn’t award a prize, but Rawhoof several artists have had opportunities to advance their career.

You can find out more at NeilYoung.com

See the contest at< a href="http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/">http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/

Hear Rawhoof's song here: http://soundcloud.com/ron-e-rawhoof/too-much-to-lose