Sounds of Survival: SIMS Marks Three Decades of Supporting Music Professionals
Austin music community celebrates community of care
Reviewed by Caroline Drew, Fri., May 23, 2025
“This too is gonna pass,” Taylor Muse of Quiet Company scream-sang at the SIMS Foundation’s 30th anniversary celebration last Sunday. Behind him, Justin “Wash” Washington nearly outdid Muse, mouthing the lyrics with full-throttle, cathartic joy and channeling emotional release into his trumpet.
Music’s therapeutic power – long championed in both its creation and consumption – was on full display at Empire Control Room & Garage. From the thoughtful headbanging of Quiet Company and nolo and the dancers swayed by THEBROSFRESH and Hotel de Nova, to the nostalgic singsong of late-Nineties pop-rockers Fastball and the outspoken ballads of Heartless Bastards, Austin musicians poured themselves into expressive performances.
“Music truly is a medicine that’s stronger than a pill,” said singer-songwriter and SIMS advocate Nakia, introducing his final song “Trash Talk.” Nakia & the Never Not Now delivered those lyrics in five-part harmony. “Rock and roll catharsis for life!” shouted Parker Woodland bassist and vocalist Erin Walter, as her own band’s set wound down.
As powerful a medicine as music can be, the Austin artists at SIMS’ anniversary knew musicians need more. Three decades in, the nonprofit’s roots run deep. Across era and genre, nearly all of the performers had taken advantage of SIMS’ personalized, accessible support.
When nolo drummer Jason “Jay” Amato was at his lowest point, his bandmate, vocalist Richard “Ritchie” Wall, told him to call SIMS. After receiving care himself, Amato now serves as SIMS’ community engagement coordinator, striving to bring others the care that helped him and his bandmates find stability and sobriety.
Sound engineer and lifelong musician Jamie Wellwarth took to the stage to express appreciation for the support he received from SIMS – for his younger self and now, for his transgender son: “I cannot be more grateful for that opportunity that he gets – that SIMS would actually go out of their way to cover family members and crew members.”
Wellwarth shook his head, at a loss for words. “I’ve been all over the world and we got it good in Austin, you know what I mean? There’s not other cities doing it like this, you know? We have opportunities to be able to help each other and to let everybody know that we are not alone.”
That opportunity is thanks, in no small part, to Don Ellison – the father of late Austin musician Sims Ellison of Pariah – and Alejandro Escovedo, Don Harvey, Wayne Nagel, and Walter Taylor, who collectively formed the nonprofit in 1995 after Sims’ death by suicide.
“[I’ve been] playing music this year now for 50 years, enjoying the spoils and whatnot of being [in a] rock and roll band for 50 years,” Escovedo said with a sly smile. “And had I not been part of SIMS, I probably wouldn’t have lasted that long. So it’s meant so much to me, not just because Don and Wayne asked me to be part of it, but because of what we’ve accomplished over the years. All the people that we’ve helped. I have so many friends who survived the life of being a musician because of SIMS here in Austin.”
Escovedo joined dreampop Francophiles Night Glitter onstage for “Sensitive Boys,” a raucous “Castanets,” and a playful rendition of the Stooges’ “Gimme Danger,” which he recorded for a compilation album that Kyle Ellison, brother and bandmate to SIMS’ namesake, put together to raise money for the foundation in 2015. Night Glitter guitarist Ellison later reunited onstage with fellow Pariah member David Derrick.
Alongside performances, proclamations from City Council and the Texas Music Office marked SIMS’ anniversary. District 3 representative José Velásquez declared May 18, 2025 to be SIMS Foundation Day.
“Simply put, SIMS is saving lives. Let’s ensure that for the next 30 years, our city is healthy and our city continues rocking,” he said.
Musician and Texas Music Office representative Graham Weber spoke to his own experience with the SIMS Foundation before reading from their letter of recognition. “I’ve been a beneficiary of services from SIMS many times over and I’m just so happy to be here and honored to be able to honor a great organization like this,” he said.
The anniversary celebration came after SIMS temporarily halted services last year due to funding challenges. The organization has since restructured its service model to accommodate changes in the health care system and launched a Restore the Rhythm campaign, aiming to raise $500,000.
In 2025, SIMS’ mission feels in step with current concerns over mental health and access to affordable care. From a 1995 vantage, SIMS was visionary – offering compassionate, individualized mental health care before the wider culture caught up.
“I have heard 'SIMS saved my life’ so many times in the last year since joining the organization,” CEO Derrick Lesnau said. “It is incredibly humbling to be a part of an organization, to be a part of a staff, to be a part of an advisory board, that gives so much to make sure that we can all continue to enjoy the music that we like to come out and enjoy.”
Peyton Wimmer, SIMS Foundation’s first executive director, closed SIMS’ anniversary program by reading from one of the first speeches he gave in 1996:
“While we are a long way from the halls of bedlam, we have not yet come to terms with [the] mental illness of the society. The SIMS Foundation looks to the future, where depression is not a deadly illness. Where addiction and abuse do not take years from our lives. And where we are free of the stigma associated with mental health issues, thereby free to treat them with the depth and attention they deserve. Music is our greatest podium to social change. We have the stage, the lights are up, and the microphone is on.”
Editor's Note: This story has been edited to remove a quote that was misattributed to Jason Amato. The Chronicle regrets the error.
