Join us in honoring Charlie Patten’s memory by supporting the artists, crew and support systems that make up our live music community by donating to the Bustamonte Fund.

Charlie Patten was a force to be reckoned with. He was brilliant, creative, and paved his own unique road through life. After working as an educator, a marketer, a chimney sweep, and an audio engineer, among other pursuits, he settled on a career as a licensed professional counselor. Charlie tapped into his own struggles with addiction and mental health to treat his patients with the utmost care, empathy and respect. He went beyond the call of duty.

Charlie’s lifelong passion was music. He played bass guitar, trained as an audio engineer, and served as DJ and curator of an experimental radio show in Boston. While a student at the University of Florida, he and his close friends formed Bustamonte, a band whose influences included Phish, Radiohead, Aphex Twin and DJ Shadow, among others. He was a fanatical concertgoer and drew inspiration from what he saw other musicians do onstage. Charlie was always hungry to discover new inspiration for his own music.

Backline connects music industry professionals and their families with mental health and wellness resources—streamlining access to a network of trusted organizations and care providers that understand this line of work. Backline’s platform allows music professionals and their families to learn, ask questions, and find clinical support to navigate mental health challenges. Life in the music industry can be incredibly isolating and difficult; Backline provides a safe, private, and immediate place to go for help. The need for Backline’s services has grown significantly, as mental health challenges continue to increase alongside the demands of this industry.

Through Backline’s case management program, clinicians work one-on-one with individuals to create a custom mental health plan specifically catered to their needs, taking into account unique mental health challenges, as well as financial and insurance status, and providing them with a customized list of therapists and resources to support them.

We lost Charlie in October of 2020. We miss him every day, and the silence that he leaves behind is deafening. We honor his memory and celebrate his life by creating The Bustamonte Fund, which will support Backline in growing its Case Management program and other initiatives. We invite you to join us in contributing to the fund, which will help keep the music playing in a way we know Charlie would love.