Music 4 Mental Health Awarness
Donation protected
Hello, Friends, family, and music lovers my name is Touchdown Tommy Edwards and I'm asking for your help! As a little boy I had a dream of making music and being an entertainer. As a child, teen, young man music and art became my self-sustaining vehicle and coping mechanism allowing me to live a more balanced life and deal with the stress of being bullied and traumatic childhood events.
When I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at age 21 while playing Division 1 football in college, it was my music and rediscovery of visual arts that gave me the tools to survive, overcome, and manage acute mental illness, addiction, and on many occasions as an adult, homelessness.
I created The Heart of Virginia Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization, theheartofva.org in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history on 4/16/07 when 33 lives were lost on the campus of Virginia Tech.
Our mission is to raise awareness for mental health and to de-stigmatize mental illness through community outreach and education. I created Music 4 Mental Health Awareness music4mentalhealth.com as an outreach program delineation and as a way to best utilize my artistic and musical talents, professional connections, friends in the music community, and production skills to Re-Brand mental health through live community music events and recorded media productions to both generate funding and create a ripple effect of awareness.
In March of 2008 we held our first official fund raising event at the Floyd Country Store featuring some of the area’s finest musical talent. We had the foresight to record the show, and released a collection of songs titled Music from the Heart featuring Butch Robins, Blue Mule, No Stings Attached, Natural Selection, and your's truely Touchdown Tommy of which we have sold more than 2000 copies at live music events and at a single test location in Roanoke VA in efforts to raise funds, as well as, several thousand copies of my own music I donated to the cause.
In 2012 at a music festival in Virginia, a sound blast caused a hearing injury that left me with permanent nerve damage in my left ear resulting in tinnitus, hyperacusis, and partial hearing loss in both ears, but far worse in the left. Playing, listening, and even writing music was physically painful and I was forced to stop performing, working on my album, and was thrust into a deep depression.
The album I was working on in Nashville with Producer Robert Jason (She Ain't No Ordinary Girl/ Alabama, produced vocals for Rod Stewart, Gregg Allman, Loretta Lynn, Barry White, Etc.) was shelved and nearly forgotten.
Over time with rest and treatment the symptoms from my hearing injury began to lessen and I began sharing some song ideas with a few friends in Nashville, but didn't think I would be performing or recording again.
That is until my friend and hit song writer, Alex Call (frontman of 70's rock band Clover, writer of [phone redacted] Jenny, The Power of Love, and many more) inspired me to finish the album, and agreed to co-produce some of the songs
Alex enlisted famed session producer Buddy Hyatt (George Jones, Bellamy Bros, Jake Owen, TG Sheppard) to produce the tracking session which included Grammy winning guitarist Brent Mason and Nashville's best session players.
I recruited Singer Minnie Murphy to record a duet and some backing vocals on a number of songs on the record. Minnie is a talented Nashville songstress, having signed her first record contract at age 19 with Sony Entertainment Nashville, 2008 release Take Me to Texas/Montoge, and currently works as a songwriter on Music Row while recording new music.
I asked my friend my friend Johnny Neel (Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Greg Allman Band, Dickie Betts, Great Southern, etc) to record Hammond B3 on a couple of tracks including the Title track Rock n Roll Cowboy, and he nailed it filling the last piece of the puzzel.
Producer and Vocal Wizard Robert Jason returned to produce vocals on a few songs, as well as, contribute to post production mixing and mastering the album.
We are launching a record label to co-op with emerging artists and music legends alike, Southern Rail & Mercantile Records and Productions is a cooperative boutique production record label, distributor, and productions company. With geographic distribution focus on the music heritage region of southwestern Virginia’s 19 counties comprised of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Highlands.
Southern Rail & Mercantile Records is co-operative partnership with The Heart of Virginia Foundation’s Music 4 Mental Health Awareness and Southern Rail Productions and is designed to integrate our mission to de-stigmatize mental health and wellbeing through community outreach and education by the formation of strategic grassroots community partnerships with existing vendors, retailers, professional suites, local and regional arts organizations and community events.
So this is where you come in. We will be selling the Rock n Roll Cowboy CDs alongside titles contributed by Alex Call, Johnny Neel, Butch Robins, along with live and studio recording to fund program sustainability.
Due to the medical bills, lost work, and depression from hearing injury I haven’t been able to focus on the multitude of tasks that are required to market, plan, release, and support a recording through live performances.
I need help in a number of ways:
• Through direct contribution
• By donating professional services in kind
• Marketing online through social media and helping connect us with folks who love music
• I also need a Sales Rep to find and maintain distribution points in your area
I’m asking for resources to offset costs of: Replication, Printing, Marketing Supports, Event Planning and Promoting, Professional booking and publicist to maximize our efforts, Additional point of purchase displays, website devopment and maintenance and administrative costs.
• Donation of $25 will receive an advance reservation for a copy of Rock n Roll Cowboy
• Donation of $50 will receive an autographed copy of Rock n Roll Cowboy
• Donation of $100 will receive a personalized autographed copy of Rock n Roll Cowboy.
• Donation of $250 will receive the autographed CD and a Music 4 Mental Health tote bag.
• Donation of $500 will receive autographed copies Rock n Roll Cowboy - Touchdown Tommy, Harmonious - Johnny Neel, and Banjo in the Morning - Butch Robins, and a Music 4 Mental Health Tote Bag in a decorative produce basket.
• Donation of $1000 will receive the CD Basket and a personal Live solo performance by Touchdown Tommy
• Donation of $2500 will receive the CD basket personal live performances by Touchdown Tommy, and an additional Southern Rail Recording artist (Butch Robins, Johnny Neel, Alex Call, etc…)
• Donation of $5000 will receive 10 CD baskets and a private live performance by Touchdown Tommy and two additional Southern Rail Recording Artists (Butch Robins, Johnny Neel, Alex Call, etc…)
• Donation of $10000 will receive 25 CD baskets and a private live ensemble performance featuring each of the Artists on the current roster.
We are launching a record label to co-op with emerging artists and music legends alike, Southern Rail & Mercantile Records and Productions is a cooperative boutique production record label, distributor, and productions company. With geographic distribution focus on the music heritage region of southwestern Virginia’s 19 counties comprised of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Highlands.
Southern Rail & Mercantile Records is co-operative partnership with The Heart of Virginia Foundation’s Music 4 Mental Health Awareness and Southern Rail Productions and is designed to integrate our mission to de-stigmatize mental health and wellbeing through community outreach and education by the formation of strategic grassroots community partnerships with existing vendors, retailers, professional suites, local and regional arts organizations and community events.
So this is where you come in. We will be selling the Rock n Roll Cowboy CDs alongside titles contributed by Alex Call, Johnny Neel, Butch Robins, along with live and studio recording to fund program sustainability.
Due to the medical bills, lost work, and depression from hearing injury I haven’t been able to focus on the multitude of tasks that are required to market, plan, release, and support a recording through live performances.
I need help in a number of ways:
• Through direct contribution
• By donating professional services in kind
• Marketing online through social media and helping connect us with folks who love music
• I also need a Sales Rep to find and maintain distribution points in your area
I’m asking for resources to offset costs of: Replication, Printing, Marketing Supports, Event Planning and Promoting, Professional booking and publicist to maximize our efforts, Additional point of purchase displays, website devopment and maintenance and administrative costs.
• Donation of $25 will receive an advance reservation for a copy of Rock n Roll Cowboy
• Donation of $50 will receive an autographed copy of Rock n Roll Cowboy
• Donation of $100 will receive a personalized autographed copy of Rock n Roll Cowboy.
• Donation of $250 will receive the autographed CD and a Music 4 Mental Health tote bag.
• Donation of $500 will receive autographed copies Rock n Roll Cowboy - Touchdown Tommy, Harmonious - Johnny Neel, and Banjo in the Morning - Butch Robins, and a Music 4 Mental Health Tote Bag in a decorative produce basket.
• Donation of $1000 will receive the CD Basket and a personal Live solo performance by Touchdown Tommy
• Donation of $2500 will receive the CD basket personal live performances by Touchdown Tommy, and an additional Southern Rail Recording artist (Butch Robins, Johnny Neel, Alex Call, etc…)
• Donation of $5000 will receive 10 CD baskets and a private live performance by Touchdown Tommy and two additional Southern Rail Recording Artists (Butch Robins, Johnny Neel, Alex Call, etc…)
• Donation of $10000 will receive 25 CD baskets and a private live ensemble performance featuring each of the Artists on the current roster.
Organizer
Tommy Edwards
Organizer
Roanoke, VA
