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Santa Barbara, CA – Nashville-based singer-songwriter and recording artist Jordan Asher Huffman is One805’s 2024 Mental Wellness Ambassador. His single Out Loud will serve as this year’s anthem for all One805LIVE! events.
Huffman will debut his song locally on May 19th at the One805LIVE! event at Sunstone Winery, along with an impressive line-up of rock legends. See here for more details and tickets: https://one805.org/events/one805live-sunstone-2024/
As Mental Wellness Ambassador, Huffman will work to challenge the stigmas around mental health and encourage mental wellness in Santa Barbara County and beyond. He will also speak to the issues regarding mental health and our First Responder community.
Due to the growing need for resources and services to support First Responder’s mental health, Huffman and One805 are taking a proactive approach to help protect the mental health of First Responders working on the front lines.
Huffman created his song Out Loud with one objective in mind, to create a song that gives us permission to live rather than just survive. In his personal life Jordan comes from a background of turbulence and pain that has shaped who he is as a person, and everything he stands for. Jordan lost his father twice in his lifetime, first at the age of 14 from mental illness and drug abuse, and then again years later to suicide. When he was young his grandfather also ended his own life, Jordan also lost several close friends to suicide in their 20’s. Jordan’s motivation behind the song was to call out the stigma of mental health in our society, and to illuminate our awareness of how we feel. He also wants to empower us to quiet the intrusive thoughts we all survive. No matter where any of us are from or what we believe in, everybody hurts. The song’s purpose is to shine a light on the notion that it is not criminal to hurt, or to ask for help when you need it.
The song was produced and written with Alan Parsons, Noah Bruskin, Joie Scott and Michael Peterson.
Many mental health conditions, including depression, substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and even suicidal ideation, are more common among First Responders.
Constant exposure to traumatic events and life-threatening situations and the stress of working long hours away from family members, under high-stakes conditions, can easily build up and take an enormous toll on the mental health of First Responders.
Huffman is best known for his work with the Grammy award-winning producer, engineer and performance artist Alan Parsons. In 2019, Huffman appeared as a featured vocalist on tour with Parsons, both internationally and domestically, performing one of the charting hits from Parsons’ new album, The Secret, which Huffman is also a co-writer and featured vocalist on.
“Alan (Parsons) has been a huge inspiration and mentor to me and I’ve grown so much as an artist with his guidance,” said Huffman. “He also introduced me to One805 and the critical mental health needs with respect to SB County First Responders and it felt like such a natural fit for me to be involved because of my own personal background with these issues.”
“I am honored, and I am privileged to be this year’s campaign Ambassador to help those who help us,” says Huffman. “ I wrote “Out Loud” with the intention to lend a voice and a light to those of us who might be in the dark with no view to a way out.”
Learn more about Huffman here: https://www.jordanashermusic.com
Listen to “Out Loud” here:Out Loud | Jordan Asher Huffman