About us
We write music history with the diagnosis left in
Turntable Minds is an independent editorial archive about a century of American music and the mental illness plague running underneath it. We are writers, collectors and listeners who got tired of hearing suffering described as a sound.
Why we fight
Our story
Some causes find you, and others are forged in the fires of your own survival. For the two of us, Ryan and Jamie, stepping into the world of fundraising isn't just about supporting a charity — it is deeply personal. It is about honoring the scars we carry, remembering the ones we've lost, and refusing to let other families walk through the darkest moments alone.
Survivors of suicide
We both know the quiet, heavy weight of survival. Suicide touches lives in ways that words often fail to capture, leaving behind a complex landscape of grief and confusion. As survivors of suicide, we understand the critical importance of breaking the silence. We know what it means to fight for tomorrow, and we know how desperately needed accessible, compassionate mental health resources and crisis support are. We became fundraisers for suicide prevention because no one should ever have to feel invisible in their darkest hour, and because every single life is worth fighting for.
In memory of Shawn: Ewing's Sarcoma
For Ryan, the crusade against childhood cancer is etched deeply into family history. His brother, Shawn, was a victim of Ewing's Sarcoma — a rare and aggressive bone cancer that took his life at age 24, depriving a young life of its future far too soon. Watching someone you love face down a diagnosis like Ewing's Sarcoma reveals a heartbreaking reality: childhood and young adult cancers are cruel, relentless, and drastically underfunded. No family should have to endure the agony of watching a life cut short by a disease they are powerless to stop. We fundraise for research so that one day, no sibling has to grow up missing their brother, and no parent or family has to experience that kind of devastating loss.
Turning pain into purpose
We didn't choose the trials that shaped us, but we get to choose what we do with them. Every campaign we run, every dollar we raise, and every story we share is dedicated to the fighters, the survivors, and the memories of those we've lost. We fight for prevention. We fight for a cure. And most importantly, we fight so that hope outlasts the hardest days. Thank you for standing with us, remembering with us, and helping us make a difference.
Support our campaigns
How the work gets made
Each essay starts with a specific recording. We pull what documentation exists — session notes, contracts, interviews, medical history when it is public — and read the music against the paperwork.
Nothing here is a diagnosis and nothing here is medical advice. We are historians of a record collection, not clinicians. What we can do is stop repeating the version of the story where nobody was sick and everybody was just difficult.
If you have a correction, an archive to share, or a story about your own life in this music, write to us. info@turntableminds.com
Four rules we do not break
Sources over myth
Liner notes, session logs, court records and hospital histories are primary sources. Legend is not.
Name the illness
We do not call untreated illness temperament, genius, or the price of art. We call it what it is.
Resources on the page
988 and 741741 appear on every piece we publish, because awareness without access is just decoration.
Keep the archive open
Images, audio, video and podcast episodes stay published and free to browse. No paywall on history.
Track listing
How we got here
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2021
A listening habit becomes a notebook
The project starts as marginalia in record sleeves — noting every time an artist's biography included a breakdown nobody treated.
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2023
The podcast starts recording
Long-form conversations with musicians, archivists and clinicians, published alongside the essays.
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2025
The archive opens to the public
Photography, audio and video move out of hard drives and onto the site, cataloged and captioned.