Soho Sessions Hit the Hamptons for Music Industry Mental Health & Sobriety

Countless greats have performed at the Stephen Talkhouse, the iconic Hamptons music venue in Amagansett, but on the night of Thursday, August 3, it was not only host to great music but also a great cause.

The evening brought The Soho Sessions to the Talkhouse, a new initiative created by accomplished music event producers Greg Williamson and Nicole Rechter. The pair have produced several successful concert events, such as Love Rocks NYC and the Talkhouse Jams, both of which, as always, support a charitable cause.

The seventh installment The Soho Sessions, like most of them, is in partnership and support of 1 Million Strong, an organization that partners with The Phoenix, a sober-active community of nearly 200,000, to support 1 million people in recovery.

“We’re very much aligned with what they’re trying to do,” says Williamson, who is sober and has been open about his own experiences with addiction and mental health. “Everything we do with music always has an important cause connected to it. We believe in a big way that mental health and addiction is something that’s a crisis throughout the country and disproportionately affects people within the music industry.” 

“I don’t know if anyone’s ever thought, wow, there are sober people here at these festivals or at these bars where you’re gonna go see music, where people are just drinking their faces off having a good time, and that’s really triggering for people,” says Rechter, who isn’t “sober,” but doesn’t drink.”

So it’s a really important message and initiative to get out there.”

“We are here to de-stigmatize it all to show that everyone can be together in a really fun, cool, and inspiring way,” adds Williamson.

Williamson grew up in Amagansett, attending shows at the Talkhouse in his youth, which helped to foster his love of music. So, when they decided they would have the Sessions leave Soho, it was an easy choice, they say.

“We thought, no better place to take it than to the East End, and to do it in a place with hallowed halls like the Stephen Talkhouse,” says Williamson. “We love this town, we love Stephen Talkhouse, and we love supporting small venues.” In the future, they hope to expand the initiative to different cities across the nation, like Los Angeles and Nashville, to spread the word of 1 Million Strong.

The 1 Million Strong organization has already had some prominent placement at popular music festivals around the country, such as the Newport Folk Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. 

Their tents, dubbed “The Wellness Retreat,” offer a comfortable, safe space for folks in the sober community, and their allies, to enjoy the music and feel supported. They offer open recovery meetings, VIP-section-like seating, and mocktail service. Director of Music Programs at the Phoenix, Bill Taylor, has been on the ground at these events and attests to their value.

“Part of the vision of the campaign is to shift the culture in the music industry so that it’s more supportive of those who choose not to imbibe, how we talk about what it means to be sober and how it’s supported inside these venues and festivals,” says Taylor. “We want to make it feel welcoming and enjoyable to be in there.” 

“People go to see music to have fun, that’s the way it’s always been, that’s the way it should be,” adds Taylor, who himself is celebrating 11 years in recovery, acknowledging for sober people, concerts can be a challenging space. “One of the things I learned in sobriety is that you can still go see music and have a great time, it took me a while to actually realize that.” 

Taylor says he is excited to spread awareness about the 1 Million Strong initiative by attending events like The Soho Sessions, because it gives everyone a chance to see what they’re all about. 

“It’s sort of like the ‘show, don’t tell’ method. It’s one thing to message out why we’re doing it, it’s another thing to invite people in and show them how it actually works.” That’s what he and the team from 1MS and Phoenix did at the Talkhouse. And of course, enjoy some great music. 

Even the performers are supporters of the cause. Headliner Marcus King, a Grammy-nominated singer, guitarist, and songwriter, made his return to the Talkhouse and the Soho Sessions because he feels so strongly about it.

“This is certainly a great cause and it’s one that I’m really close to. I’ve struggled with addiction and mental health my whole life, he says. “I’m glad to be helping spread the word about it.”

King says that the pandemic highlighted the prominence of mental health and addiction issues among performers and artists in the music industry. 

“I mean, there’s something a little off if you go around from town to town and crave people’s approval every night, and then immediately it stops on a dime,” he says, “It’s kind of jarring.”

One song included in his set for the evening, “Goodbye Carolina,” was inspired by a friend who dealt with mental health issues, and tragically committed suicide. 

“His name was Matt Reynolds. He never left any note or anything but he was really wild about this girl who didn’t share the same feelings,” King shared. “We never really got any closure, so when I wrote this song it felt like he wrote it through me. I saw an apparition of him while I was entirely sober.”

King shared the story with the crowd once he hit the stage to perform it. In one of the final performances of the night, he sang it alongside his wife, Briley King, who sang background vocals. 

King’s soulful voice, relatable lyrics, and poignant guitar playing combined to yield the night’s most emotional performance. Throughout the crowd, audience members were visually moved, some wiping back tears. Accompanied by such a phenomenally accomplished band, at that moment, King was able to unify the room, no matter their walk of life.

The band, composed of famed music director Larry Campbell on lead guitar and vocals, Saturday Night Live drummer Shawn Pelton, Adam Minkoff on bass and vocals, Eric Finland on keys, and Teresa Williams on vocals, opened the show with a rousing set of classics that energized the audience. 

Fittingly, the electrifying singer and guitarist Celisse followed. Belting out a four-song set, she shredded her guitar so fiercely that when she walked off stage and into the audience, she held the crowd at her mercy.

Later, she joined King on stage to perform “Proud Mary” in tribute to the late, great Tina Turner, before the entire ensemble, including legendary special guest G.E. Smith, performed the final number, “Mighty Quinn.”  

Before the show, Rechter described The Soho Sessions as their “passion project.” But, by the end of the night, they weren’t alone; it was clear they were a couple hundred strong. Mission accomplished.