Chris Bullard: Sound Mind

At some point during Chris Bullard’s first stay in the psych ward, the musician and entrepreneur picked up a guitar and began strumming.

Soon, patients emerged from their rooms and began to sing along.

“A homeless guy off the street as well as an executive type,” he remembers. “And I was just like, ‘Wow! This music thing is really connecting everyone!'”

Chris understood immediately music’s capacity to create connection, build community, and foster healing. And in 2019, after years on the road as a touring guitarist (he shared a mic with Kris Kristofferson!), he founded Sound Mind Live.

Sound Mind brings together musicians, music lovers, and forward-thinking organizations to build community and open dialogue around mental health – to leverage the power of music to catalyze social change.

His mission, of course, has some real resonance.

When I left the bustling streets of New York City for the leafy suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware, my old self felt lost in a new place.

Anxious, depressed and coping with drugs and alcohol, I leaned into songwriting and ultimately unearthed long-held secrets, deeply buried stories, and hard-earned life lessons – including the difficult realization that by some metric anyway, I wasn’t entirely well.

Enter Sound Mind, who will be the beneficiary of proceeds from ticket sales at my October 21st album release with Lily McKown and Chvnce at The Crown in Wilmington (get your tickets now!), and October 27th at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City. Together, we’re going to tear the curtains down, throw the windows wide, and make the mentionable manageable.

In Chris, I found a fellow traveler, someone compelled to make the mentionable manageable, and talk about hard things.

“You get one life in this world, and stuff’s coming up for a reason,” Chris says. “You might as well explore it, and take this life for whatever it’s worth.”